Coming of the Scooby Army
by harsens-rob
Summary: Story follows The Cost of Giles: Giles deals with his dark magic infection, Xander deals with Hyena, The Hellmouth Wisp targets the wrong person and Warren sends a new threat against our gang.
1. Felled

Disclaimer: Legal stuff, don't own characters, haven't made any money, this is for entertainment purposes, no profit earned, lawyers go away. –kisses-

Spoiler Alert: There are tidbits from past BTVS episodes and especially the Spanderverse series of stories.

Notes: Story following, "_**The Cost of Giles**_".

Everything from the television series through the defeat of Adam also occurred as depicted, in the Spanderverse.

People's thoughts are depicted in _italics_. You'll find emphasis depicted with an underline.

**Coming of the Scooby Army**

Ch 1 – Felled

**Xander and Spike walked through the Summers' front yard. It was a moonless night with heavy cloud cover and the surrounding darkness seemed to drain away the street lamps' glow before the light could penetrate the gloom surrounding them.**

**The vampire of course didn't even notice, but Xan had to keep glancing down to check where his feet were going. More proof that his Hyena spirit was still unconscious… his night vision was better with her up and around. **

_**I'm gonna have to drink it, **_**he nervously thought again. He gave a quick glance at Spike striding confidently just in front of him. **_**I-it's for the best, I guess. I have to get rid of her.**_

**He gave a harsh intake of breath as he noted the damage to the front of the house.**

"**Oh, man. It looks even worse than I thought."**

"**You'll fix it. You're good at that stuff," Spike replied tersely. **

**He'd been silent all the way here and had generally been peevish since Xan's ill-considered offer of his blood to tide the vampire over out at the abandoned iron works factory. **

**Xander had really hoped for an attack on the way, to slice through the tension, but there was never a demon rampage or world-sucked-into-Hell plot when you really needed one.**

**The front of the house now had a large piece of plywood over the front window looking out on the porch. There was an additional piece of plywood, as well as yellow tape that had been partially torn away in the breeze, over the front door. Pieces of debris were laying in the yard and there was a thick mat of dead insect bodies everywhere they stepped. Otherwise the night was quiet, the street empty except the chirping of bugs out in the night.**

"**Insects? What are these, gnats," he exclaimed with loathing as he slipped in the gooey, slimy mess.**

"**Something that your near-victims whipped up. Bit the hell outta all of us, but the bumps have gone away…. **

"**Another reason Hyena was on a tear through town."**

"**It seems really quiet," Xan noted.**

"**Hmm. A cop was here, but I can sense he's gone," Spike replied. "Can't sense any quote-prey-unquote in the house. Looks like Joyce's Jeep and White Wicca's car ain't here either. Points to the girls bein' out… hope they're careful."**

"**A cop? That can't be good."**

"**Rick was here, too. He'll cover our backs, I think. He seems decent enough, I guess. Whatever - what's done is done and we'll deal with the fallout."**

"**Let's see if one of the back doors is unlocked," Xander suggested reluctantly.**

**Carole Stein looked in on Dawnie, whispering her name, but the girl didn't respond and seemed to have fallen deeply asleep. She was grateful for this, as the events in the teenager's life seemed overwhelming to ****her**** – it was hard to imagine how Dawn was able to cope.**

**She made her way to her own bedroom and after changing into a nightgown and getting into bed, picked up her table side novel. She wasn't able to focus on the heroine's trials and tribulations, however. Her mind kept returning to Dawn's situation, and how exactly they would be able to help.**

**During her telephone conversation with Rick earlier, she'd expressed her worry over child protective services. Dawn had mentioned that they'd already opened a case file on her due to things that had happened during the fiasco with the false-goddess, Glory.**

**Rick had stated that it may be best for them to relocate the girl. It was an off-hand comment, but it had irritated her, and she hadn't yet let it go. She loved her husband. She wouldn't have married him if she hadn't been able to accept his doggedly rational way of looking at life, but he just didn't get how Sunnydale worked. He, unlike she, hadn't grown up here with the sudden deaths, mysterious disappearances, the unspoken paranoia and nearly weekly odd occurrences. This place wasn't like other places and sometimes you needed to throw rational logic out of the window to cope.**

**She wasn't even convinced that he'd accepted that vampires and the rest really existed and walked around, yet. Perhaps he had as an intellectual exercise, but in his heart… at his core? **

**Even with Spike's dramatic demonstration at the Summers' dinner table proving once and for all that sometimes horror tales weren't just stories, his mind continued to insist on more logical explanations and she'd noticed his hesitant stutter when vampires came into the conversation. He had refused to start wearing a crucifix as defense, even though he worked nights, when the beasts were out. And though she didn't see a realistic way for him to sneak it around, she'd brought up the idea of a stake… he'd laughed the suggestion off as 'irrational'. **

**Carrying a sharp piece of wood seemed the most rational thing to do at night, in her opinion. **

_**Interesting that at the same time, he can insist that I have something in my purse….**_

**He'd also refused to contribute the cyborg-being he'd mentioned to anything supernatural. It was only a 'twisted boy genius' who'd built it out of scraps and a corpse. As if every high-school science nerd could whip together a half-man, half-machine? **(1)

**Not for the first time, she wondered if staying in the town was a good idea for her husband's mental health. She wasn't convinced that he had the temperament to accept the usually-unseen-except-for-here corners of this mysterious world. She sighed to herself and worried until she forced her mind back to Dawn's circumstance and her husband's suggestion.**

_**No, Dawn needs her 'family', no matter how imperfect, **_**she nodded to herself. **_**And, I'm just going to have to see to it that Rick gets on board this bus.**_

**Xander and Spike walked around the house to the back. Joyce had two rear doors off of the kitchen. One, now also lying as debris in the yard, opened onto a small back porch. This former doorway was also covered in thick plywood. **

**The second door was intact and opened off onto the side yard. When Xander tried the door handle, he found it locked.**

"**Swell. I really need to talk to Tara about a key to this place," Xan said.**

"**Amateur," Spike smirked at him, making him feel a bit of relief regarding the faux pas from earlier. **

**The vampire reached out and easily twisted the doorknob, snapping the lock. With a push of his fingertips, the door swung open.**

"**You realize that'll be another thirty bucks to replace," Xander deadpanned. "And I should look into an actual alarm system."**

"**You do realize that demons don't think about stuff like that," Spike smirked back.**

"**I need some hot coffee and a few towels… I'm still soaked to the bone," he replied, preceding the vampire into Joyce's kitchen. "I wonder where Wills and T are?"**

"**Giles' maybe. Or that detective's. Let's get that potion and get this done with before Snarly-Bitch causes another knock down, yeah?"**

**Without a second glance, he pushed around the mortal with him and went straight for the refrigerator. Grabbing a container from within, he tore the lid off and began gulping huge mouthfuls of the animal blood within. As he gulped, he strode purposely to the cabinet under the kitchen sink.**

"**I guess," Xan replied half-heartedly while flipping the light switch. When he turned, he found Spike thrusting a beaker in his face. He took it reluctantly.**

"**Whatever the worries are, get over 'em and chug-a-lug," Spike said. He turned away and took several more mouthfuls of liquid from the container being squeezed in his hand. The cold pig's blood did not hit the spot in any way approaching human, but he was almost desperately trying to push the thought of Xander's salty richness out of his insistent brain. The mortal had done a stupid thing and despite the chip, he should be a lot more careful about the stuff that came out of his mouth.**

**In the meantime, Xander sighed and uncapped the inky looking brew. It smelled vaguely of licorice but also of something unidentifiable. Whatever ingredients Tara had used, it wasn't appetizing.**

"**Have I mentioned the tragic history I've had with magic?"**

"**Have I mentioned that 'you' tried to kill two people tonight? Drink it," Spike insisted.**

**Xander closed his eyes and brought the brew close to his mouth. Hesitating was a mistake, as his intake of breath only allowed him an unhealthy lungful of the potion. **

"**If this turns me into a toad, I'll never forgive you," he said with a grimace. **

**His eyes were tightly closed when Spike glanced at him briefly before turning away again to continue gulping greedily from his nearly empty container.**

**Xan girded himself against his doubts about what he knew needed to be done and swallowed Tara's potion, though not without an expression of utter disgust. **

"**Ugh, God! That's about the nastiest stuff I've ever swallowed! I'm starting to worry if Tara uses sewer water in her potions."**

"**So long as it works. Then you and me will talk about what you're worried about in getting rid of your animal spirit hitchhiker."**

**Xander looked both surprised and impressed by the observation, "Who said I was worried about getting rid of a possessing spirit? I never said that."**

"**Didn't have to… you've been dragging your feet all the way over here and trying to piss me off. No doubt to distract me so you could avoid quaffing. Feel anything different?"**

"**You know, you're pretty observant for a blood thirsty fiend," he smiled.**

"**I've been around a while."**

**Xan went to respond with a joke, but before he could his features twisted into a grimace of confusion, "Oh-oh."**

**Before Spike could ask what the problem was, the young man's entire body went rigid. His mouth gaped open in a soundless yell as he fell to the floor.**

End Chapter 1

(1) Apparently, Rick didn't bother to acknowledge the demon-parts that helped make up Adam, as well as forgetting that Warren didn't actually build him – he just made some modifications. A fact he would have been told during the Scooby Gang's explanations following the cover up of the Slayer's death.


	2. The Bitter

**Coming of the Scooby Army**

Ch 2 – The Bitter

**Andrew limped beside Warren as the Trio Gang leader muttered darkly into the night. He kept looking behind them for any signs of Nutty-Xander, but they remained alone. For the moment anyway, he didn't exactly feel safe just because the murderous Buffy-friend wasn't on their tail… there were a lot of other things that could come barreling out of the darkness, including the vampire he'd built the sexbot for in the first place. It was still a mystery where the real Buffy was hanging out these days, and what Spike was doing helping out Xan, but he couldn't afford to speculate about that right now. His grandiose plans to impress the demonic underworld of Sunnydale had fallen epically flat.**

"**We'll need to hide out… away from Sunnydale," Warren was saying to himself. "A-and then, we'll need a new plan."**

"**Leave?! B-but what about my parents? What about money? Is my head still bleeding," Andrew complained as his fingers brushed against some stickiness on his forehead.**

**Warren gave him a look of exasperation. "Your parents?! You mean the ones that left for Japan for three weeks and only LEFT YOU A NOTE?!"**

"**W-well… th-they did leave a few bucks for groceries, too."**

"**They left you thirty-bucks, Andy! For three weeks!"**

**Andrew shrugged, "They just wanted to make me get a job."**

"**No, they just don't care!"**

**Andrew stopped with a flinch and Warren noted he looked really hurt. In fact, he might have crossed the line that time… Andy looked like he might start crying.**

"**Hey, I'm sorry," he rested a hand on his shoulder and gave a friendly squeeze. "I didn't mean that."**

**Andrew shrugged off his hand and started walking again, rubbing at his wounded head without a verbal response.**

**With a sigh of self-derision, a rarity in Warren's world, he jogged up to Andrew and this time threw an arm around the back of his neck, pulling him into a one-armed, rough and manly hug. **

"**I mean it, Andy. That didn't come out right… I'm just stressed out and angry that our brilliant plan didn't work out. Your parents are okay."**

**Andrew shrugged. "They ****do**** care!"**

"**Of course they do. I told you I didn't mean it… c'mon… forgive me?"**

"**Th-they just… haven't been right since Tucker went to prison for issuing those terrorist threats against the school. I mean, they think he's like a psycho now. A-and he's going to be out in only a few more years, well, I mean if he gets his parole. They're just really stressed out, but they do care."**

"**I know," Warren conceded. "But we can't hang out here. Buffy's playmates will be tracking us down soon, if they aren't already casting locator spells."**

"**It was those pink guys' fault! If they hadn't been so pig headed and refused to follow us to the house, we would have won," Andrew whined.**

"**I think it may have been a mistake to recruit vampires, too," Warren added. "I mean, we did sort of have to threaten them into attacking the 'Slayer' directly at her house. I'm sure they cut and ran as soon as they could, the cowardly bastards. I won't make ****that**** mistake again."**

"**Do you really think they can track us with a spell," Andy asked worriedly, peering off into the night above them, as if he'd see some sort of magic cloud following them.**

"**Probably. That's why we gotta get the hell out of this town. Like, now. I have some money left from our stash… it isn't much, but it'll get us to Nevada, anyway."**

"**What about Jonathon?"**

**Warren made a noise of derision, if not disgust. "Short Round? Listen, he was never really Trio material. I should have just had us be a duo in the first place."**

**His arm was still around Andrew's shoulders and he gave him another friendly hug. "What do you say? The Dynamically Evil Duo?"**

"**Yeah. Yeah, okay," Andy grinned, before looking worried again, "****Am**** I still bleeding?"**

"**Jon, is that you," a woman's voice came from the kitchen as he entered the mostly darkened house.**

"**Yeah, mom," Jonathon Levinson replied as he joined her in the kitchen. She only had the light on that was above the range, casting deep shadows around the tiny room. In her hand was a glass of orange juice, but he didn't bother to wonder whether there was vodka in it also.**

"**It's a bit late, isn't it," she said with just a trace of a slur. She tried to focus her eyes on the range clock, but seemed to give up and took a sip of her 'juice'.**

"**We had someone call in… I had to stay to help close up," he said, glancing nervously away. It was a tell that he'd always had whenever he tried to deliberately lie. It made him sad that it had been months since his mother had bothered paying close enough attention to him to catch it.**

"**Oh. Well, I'm glad you're home. You okay? You look a bit… pale, or something."**

"**I'm… I'm fine. I-it was just a, uh, rough night at work."**

**He could see her look him over, wondering. The look that he'd seen for the last two years… '**_**How bad? Do I need to worry about him? Is he thinking about hurting himself again?**_**'**

**It always left him feeling guilty. **_**You bring a gun to school to blow your brains out ONE time, and you never hear the end of it.**_

**It was just lucky that he'd only been able to get a hold of his dad's rifle. The struggle to get it at the right angle had given Buffy time enough to stop him from doing something fatally stupid. She'd saved him. He remembered how pretty she had looked when she'd smiled at him on receiving her 'Class Protector Award' and wondered why he'd been in such a rush to join Warren against her; **_**Another stupid decision made by a stupid loser….**_

"**Did Andrew call? Or, maybe Warren," he sighed and worried. **

**He wasn't nervous about Andy, at first. He could patch things up with his best friend, but Warren tended to hold a grudge. And after seeing how far he was willing to go at Buffy's tonight, he probably needed to be worried.**

**He had left his two 'partners' when things had turned south, especially after Warren had punched Dawn. He'd never seen a guy actually hit a girl before, not outside of the movies, anyway. It had shocked and disgusted him and that had quickly turned to a bit of fear when he'd seen the violence in Warren's eyes… he believed that their 'leader' really would have kicked Dawn while she lay on the ground and he couldn't believe that he'd been friends with someone who could do something like that and hadn't known. **

**Jonathon realized then that he'd only been playing at villainy, looking to score some easy money. He now thought Warren really might be one deep down. He wondered whether Andrew was still out there with him, and that was when he'd started worrying about him.**

"**Not that I know of," his mother had slurred. Her eyelids were looking droopy now, which meant that this must be her third (mostly) Vodka and (only a splash of) O.J.**

_**Pathetic that I'd know that,**_** he thought.**

"**But I was working at the laundromat tonight. You could ask your father, but I think he's in bed. It's late isn't it? You're coming in late," she mentioned again before taking a gulp of her drink.**

_**And, this would be the point where she stops 'politely sipping' and starts chugging,**_** he thought. **_**I better get upstairs before she starts wanting to have another re-hash of whether I'm thinking about offing myself again.**_

**Aloud he reminded her that he had 'worked late' again as he passed her to head upstairs to his lonely room. He didn't think he was going to get much sleep tonight, not with the worry over what he'd seen in Warren's eyes earlier and the utterly shocked look on Dawn's face while she was lying there on the ground.**

_**I think Andrew and me really, really messed up this time.**_

"**We'll hit my sister up to stay in her and her husband's cottage outside Lake Tahoe," Warren was saying. "Uh, you may need to sort of help her around their diner in exchange for some room and board…."**

"**Ugh. Why can't we just rent a motel room?"**

"**We're sort of almost tapped out, Andy. I mean, really close. Jon's stupid 'bionic boots' were really expensive… for all the good they did! I almost broke my damned neck."**

"**Yeah," Andy sighed, reaching up to rub his head again.**

**Warren grabbed at his wrist, "Stop picking at it. We don't have time to stop for bandages and stuff. Now, how the heck are we going to get out of here?"**

"**Do you think we should backtrack for the van?"**

"**Too dangerous. Plus, Jon's turned into such a whiny, little bitch-dwarf, he'd probably call the cops on us. We'll need to use a bit of magic and steal a car. Something not too flashy that we won't mind ditching as soon as we reach where we're going…," Warren sounded like he was thinking aloud, so Andrew stayed quiet about how risky that was. "And then, we'll need some sort of masking magic… maybe you could come up with a spell?"**

"**I have a few books at home, if we risk going back there," Andy shared. "Plus, I have fifty bucks in my sock drawer that I saved from my birthday - we can use it for gas."**

"**Okay, then. Looks like we got a plan… see? I knew just being a duo was gonna be way better than including Pipsqueak," he grinned. "Just you and me… on the open road!"**

**Andy grinned back, stars in his eyes.**

End Ch 2


	3. Morning Light

**Coming of the Scooby Army**

Ch 3 – Morning Light

**Giles snapped awake and quickly looked around his bedroom. His skin felt clammy and there was the definite feeling that he was about to become sick. Sitting up slowly, he took several deep breaths until the wave of nausea retreated.**

**A quick glance showed that the time was a quarter to eight in the morning. The sun outside the window shown brightly and he could hear birds singing gaily. This in no way improved his mood.**

**He felt humiliated… weak of mind and spirit… pathetic, really. He was a Watcher, for Heaven's sake, from a line of same and he should have been made of sterner stuff. Instead, he'd betrayed those closest to him by not resisting hard enough. Even now he caught himself staring at the closet door with a deep sense of loss, knowing that the 'Book of Midnight' no longer resided within reach.**

**With a start, he ran for the staircase and barely made it into the downstairs bathroom. Moments later and his bowels evacuated with a painful cramp. Sweat broke out on his forehead and under his arms as his 'withdrawal' symptoms continued.**

**Xander awoke to the feeling of cold, dry skin against his. A glance showed Spike's hands resting atop one of his. He slowly pulled it away and sat up in the bed. Around him were Buffy's things.**

"**We're in Buffy's room," he said with obvious conflicted emotion. He looked around the room, bathed in indirect sunlight and took a deep breath, trying to smell any trace of her perfume in the air. **_**Even now, it can still hurt.**_

"**Her room was open… and I've been sleeping here, anyway," Spike said as he turned to look around the room himself. He'd been, uncharacteristically, almost afraid of coming into this room after 'that night'. He'd taken to sleeping in Dawn's bed, but on the weekends she sometimes slept in so late, he hadn't been able to put off lapsing into the restorative unconsciousness that all vampires required. Finally, he'd stopped avoiding and found Buffy's bed as comfortable as any. He'd almost expected his skin to burn or crack, despite the utter nonsense of the idea. Now, he took a deep, slow breath through his nose. "There's still a trace of her left, even after so many months," he said distractedly.**

**Xander didn't know how to respond. In one sense it felt good to be surrounded by evidence of Buffy again. On the flip side, it was just a reminder that she wasn't downstairs waiting for them. He breathed again slowly through his nose, but he didn't detect what Spike was scenting… and that kind of sucked.**

"**I don't think I've been in this room since… since before Glory's deal," he swallowed audibly over the lump in this throat. With seeming effort, he reached over and pulled a framed photo from her nightstand. It was a simple portrait of Joyce with her arm around Dawn, both wearing one of those 'say cheese' grins.**

"**Joyce," Xan said, smiling a little. He said to Spike, "I remember in the bad days of Angelus, this one time, Buffy had been sick. The flu, which was weird 'cause you know, Slayer constitution and all. Well, there was a lot of stress… anyway, we were all in here laughing and joking around… me, Buffy and Willow. Buffy was sort of milking the 'recovery' and we were all basically asking for the most outlandish things we could think of… 'Could you go to the market and get coffee ice cream – I think I'd feel a lot better', 'There's another bag of Cheesy-Puffs hidden in a cupboard downstairs that I saw, could you go grab those', 'I was really hoping that maybe you could cut the crust off of the sandwiches…", he gave a small laugh, remembering better times. "She really should have smacked the lot of us for being such smart-asses."**

"**She was a good woman," Spike said. "Always treated me better than I deserved." **

**There was a moment of quiet before Xander broke the mood with a grin and a snide, "So, again with the unconsciousness? This is becoming a habit around you."**

"**Magic isn't a joke. You never know what the hell that shit is going to do. It could have done worse than just knocked you out. But, how do you feel… really?"**

"**Lighten up, Vamp-breath, I'm… well, not exactly okay, but my lungs are working and there's a heartbeat. And the pain in my head indicates I'm not completely dead."**

"**Tara didn't warn me there might be a reaction," Spike snarled. "Should have known not to try that potion without a witch present… that was stupid!"**

"**Hey. I'm fine. And, we did the right thing. She was… dangerous."**

"**It work then?"**

"**Yeah… think so, anyway," Xander closed his eyes and tried to sense her presence. "I feel… alone… kind of… empty," he swallowed hard. **

**When he looked again, Spike was staring at him.**

"**What?"**

"**Nothing."**

"**You don't have 'nothing' face. You have 'I am thinking something, but I'm going to pretend that I have no thoughts by putting on blank-face' face."**

"**You really need to work on the English."**

"**I speak goodly."**

"**Yeah," Spike rolled his eyes. "I've just spent the night thinking…," he hesitated.**

"**Aaaannnd…?"**

"**It occurred to me that depending how far back you had the hitchhikers… all the way back to Toth? … That HX was probably the reason you and I… got physical. So… where does this leave us?"**

**Xander went to respond, when he realized he didn't know exactly. He never would have started anything if it wasn't for that whole 'pack' thing and ****her**** wanting some backup to take over Buffy's leadership of the gang.**

**Spike stood and stepped back a pace. **

"**I see," he reacted with an obviously practiced disinterested shrug.**

"**No, you don't. And, neither do I," Xander said. "I-I think I should get back to my apartment." He was relieved that he was still dressed, even though the clothes were still damp… and now so was Buffy's bed.**

"**I need a hot shower and a non-mystically induced nap," he tried to smile, but he knew it was strained.**

**Spike, of course, wasn't an idiot and probably recognized it too. "Yeah. It's gettin' close to time for a lie-down for me, too."**

"**Spike… things we did," Xander turned deep crimson, "Uh, in the, uh, basement for instance…"**

"… **Never happened. Got it," Spike interrupted.**

"**No, that's not what I was going to say. I was going to say that I don't regret it. Even though… well… I'm not sure that, uh, stuff would have happened without Hyena…"**

"… **It wouldn't have and we both know it," Spike interrupted again with irritation. "Stop trying to 'spare my feelings'… I don't have any."**

"**Bullshit. And, if you'd stop trying to play the martyr and let me say what I'm trying to say…?!"**

"**I'm listening…," Spike had crossed his arms and was glaring at the human.**

"**I'm just trying to tell you that… that this is a bit weird without her emotions filling my head, okay? I'm not saying that we're done. I'm not saying anything except that I'm feeling a bit groggy and I've got a killer headache and I just need a nap before we talk about what happens with us… okay? That's all I'm saying."**

"**Sure."**

**Xan gave him a beleaguered sigh. "I gotta go."**

**Spike watched him leave the room.**

**Giles stood in the living room feeling a bit adrift as he surveyed what had happened to his apartment. He wasn't exactly sure what he needed or wanted to do.**

**A glance in the direction of the sofa revealed that Tara and Willow were, somehow, sharing it as they slept. There was an afghan draped over them and both were snoring softly. There didn't seem enough room for both of them, but somehow they'd managed to squeeze together close enough to allow them to fall asleep without one of them ending up on the floor.**

**Rupert went to the kitchen to start a pot of coffee dripping and then quietly picked up the phone and dialed England.**

**When his call was finally patched through to Travers by his unctuous assistant, Giles found himself momentarily speechless.**

"**Hello? Rupert are you there?"**

"**Hello, Quentin."**

"**I thought for a moment we'd been disconnected," he said. "You have a report on Sunnydale to share? Another apocalypse on the horizon?"**

"**Not this time," Giles said, falling heavily into the desk chair that had survived the magical battle of the night before.**

**Mr. Travers obviously heard his distress crossing the Atlantic over the wire, "Rupert… you don't sound well. Has something happened?"**

"**Y-yes. I'm afraid so."**

"**Oh. Well… I'm sorry. We will, of course, have to make arrangements for a replacement to be sent … Faith isn't trustworthy enough to have released at this juncture…," Travers said distractedly, almost as if he'd forgotten Giles was on the phone.**

"**No, no! This isn't about Buffy," he quickly interjected. Though, of course, everything that had happened ****was**** about Buffy… and Glory… and what he'd had to do to protect her and ultimately, his failures. But the last thing that the others needed was Quentin deciding to send in more Council members to oversee things as they continued working to keep the Buffy robot playing her secret role.**

"**Oh! Oh, well… that is… good, then. I confess to being confused about what you could be sounding so 'off' about, if not the Slayer's welfare. Surely after facing a goddess, there isn't much left that could have you so obviously out of sorts."**

"**I… I have called to turn myself over to the Council, Quentin. On the charges of misuse of dark magicks… disregarding the Council's edicts involving dark magic tomes… a-and-and failing to properly represent the Watchers Council in thought and deed."**

**There was a fourteen heartbeats delay in Travers' response. Giles knew this because he could feel every beat hammering his ribcage.**

"**I see," he said, trying to sound businesslike, but Giles could hear the slightest trace of surprise. He'd caught him completely off-guard.**

"**I believe you should start at the beginning," Quentin continued.**

**Back at his apartment, Xander stood under a hot spray of water from the shower head. He was leaning forward, his hands against the wall in front of him as his eyes remained closed against the pulsing beat of water massaging his face.**

**He was wrestling with what had happened between him and Spike. It would have been so easy to simply blame everything on Hyena. And to take Spike's suggested route of pretending it had never happened in the first place.**

**But, it had happened. And, his mind kept returning to Commando, in his own body at that time, mentioning how cute Spike was. Didn't that say something about Xander himself?**

**His commando-persona hadn't been an entirely outside invader like the animal spirit had been. Sure, his dollar-store level soldier costume had been infected with Rayne's chaos-magic, but it only worked by tapping into the qualities already present – at least according to Giles' post-possession wordy explanations.**

**Willow hadn't much change, other than being dead and a ghost, because that sort of spirit IS the person. Buffy had within her the high school ditz she'd apparently been more of while at Hemery High before she came to Sunnydale. Ethan's costume had seized on those superficial qualities, combined with her desire to escape the responsibility of Slayerhood and chaotically enhanced those traits… suddenly, she had no responsibility, except to find a nobleman and to look pretty. It had even wiped out her modern knowledge to better fit into her costume's time period where girls were seen to be better if they were dumb.**

**Personally, he liked his Buffy the way she'd really been.**

_**Each of Ethan's costumes twisted, suppressed or enhanced traits and memories already present until they became unrecognizable… until they fit more in keeping with the outfits' motif. But, it didn't actually create something from nothing, **_**Giles had then explained to them.**

_**Wait, **_**Buffy had objected, **_**Are you saying I was a bubble-headed bimbo before?! And, I've never been to a castle or led the life of a hoity-toity chick – that's more Cordelia's bag.**_

_**O-O-of course, **_**Giles had quickly backtracked. **_**I'm not sure of the full details of the spell…, but, I would say that you'd seen movies of what life would have been like as a Royal. I'm sure that you've also daydreamed, as we all have, of what it would be like to live other lives. The costumes simply made those daydreams more real by suppressing your actual lifestory in exchange for your imaginings… again, drawing on things buried in your subconscious that you'd seen, heard, e-even read and building a new lifestory to match the new "life" being reflected in the costume. And, of course, the outfits themselves were able to change the physical form to match the new reality for each wearer.**_

_**Like being stuck in a holodeck, while brain washed, after having a transporter accident,**_** Xander had muttered.**

_**I might agree if I had any idea what that meant, **_**Giles had drolly responded.**

**There'd been a lot more questions, mostly from Xander himself, after the Judge/Angelus team up… like how he could have had information about rocket launchers, and how to shoot guns if everything was only built on daydreams – but Giles had been concerned about how Angel's going bad was affecting Buffy and had given him a Britishy "**_**That was a very complicated ritual Xander, and we simply don't have time to rehash Ethan's folly. We have a more pressing threat at the moment.**_**"**

**Things had gotten a bit chaotic in the non-Ethan spell way shortly after that, but now as he stood under the jets of hot water, he wondered if Giles' explanations weren't way off base.**

"**I guess it doesn't matter now," he said aloud as he let the water beat down onto his back. "Toth must have really thrown everything out of whack." **

**But, IF the soldier personality hadn't been a separate entity during Halloween, he had become one after that for awhile. It was all so complex.**

**But still, bottom line was it was different than Hyena. Commando had been more 'him' and if he didn't have a problem with being a bit on the Bi-Side, then why was the fact bothering him so much now. It's not like he'd ever had problems with gays… his best friend was a lesbian, hello? But it was different with it having happened to him. He wasn't even sure if he was still attracted to Spike now that Hyena at least seemed gone. He liked him, he was sure of that much, but he liked Riley and Oz too… didn't mean it was a physical thing….**

**He turned off the shower and stepped out of the tub to wrap in a towel. Looking in the bathroom mirror, he tried with a faint trace of desperation to feel any echo of Commando and then Hyena. **

**He felt nothing, except disturbed that he was hoping for some glimmer of one of them.**

_**Who am I without them? Just the Zeppo, again? Am I back where I started? And what the hell am I gonna do about Spike? **_

_**What do you **__**want**__** to do about him, Xan?**_

End Ch 3


	4. The House and the Social Worker

**Coming of the Scooby Army**

Ch 4 – The House and the Social Worker

**Tara awoke with a start and listened to the room around her. She was cramped and uncomfortable, but remembered immediately that it was because she was still at Giles' apartment, and ergo on the sofa… crowded against Willow. As she began to stretch out a kink in her knee and sat up, Wills murmured a 'good morning' to her sleepily.**

"**Sorry, Sweetie, I didn't mean to wake you," she smiled.**

"**Do I smell coffee?"**

"**Giles must have dripped a pot… Giles?" Tara called out into the apartment, though she sensed that he wasn't present. "Giles, are you home?"**

**By this time, Willow had gotten herself up as well and stumbled in the general direction of the bathroom at the back of the apartment. "It's so weird to think of Giles and coffee… I always imagine him with tea all of the time… must be that English-Earl Grey-mystique. I hope he's alright. I'm not awake enough to deal with another uber-Ripper."**

"**I'll get a cup ready for you," Tara smiled at her retreating back. **

**When she'd made it into the small kitchen, she found the miracle-liquid smelling relatively fresh and a note pinned to the cupboard door above the maker.**

_**Good Morning Girls,**_

_**I haven't turned evil again. I just needed to see Lavinia. I'm sure that you'll be relieved. There is fresh coffee brewed (below) and I've also a bit of left over croissant in the breadbox (on the counter behind you). When you've finished, please look in on Dawn, won't you? And then talk to Xander about the damages in here? I'm never going to get my deposit back. We'll need to have a meeting, I'm afraid, to discuss my appalling behaviour, for which I cannot possibly apologize enough. But, I nevertheless am ashamed and regretful for it.**_

_**Rupert Giles**_

**Tara sighed, as she focused on the guilt in the letter. She didn't really blame him for anything that had happened; he'd done it to protect them from an invulnerable god, and any of them would have taken the same chance. Even herself if the situation were desperate enough, and she or any of them could have been in Giles' shoes – being dominated by the dark forces tapped.**

"**Is that from Giles?"**

"**Mmm-hmmm. He's gone to see Lavinia. We need to check on Dawn this morning and then he'd like Xander to take a look at the damages, here."**

"**Xander's going to be miffed. He's already had to re-plaster these walls once already." **(1)

"**And, don't forget the mess we've left back at the Summers'," Tara added. "We may need to hire some extra help for him this time. I mean, how much can one guy do?"**

"**Maybe he can get some of the guys from work to help out. We'll have to come up with a cover story, but we've gotten a lot of practice," Willow deadpanned. "Do you know any 'construction guy' spells?"**

**Tara gave her a small laugh, "I don't think master wizards have really gone into the construction trade too often… I don't know why."**

**As she gave Willow her cup of coffee and pulled out the pastries, she worriedly told the other witch that Giles sounded like he had a lot of guilt on his shoulders.**

"**Well. This isn't the first time he'd done some… questionable stuff," Willow frowned. "But, he'll get through it and be fine. He's Giles," she added with a confident grin.**

"**Honey," Dawn heard as she groaned. Somebody was shaking her gently and waking her up. **

"**Go away. I hate school."**

"**It's not school, Dawnie. It's Tara… she's on her way over here to pick you up," Dawn recognized Carole Stein's voice. For just a brief moment she'd forgotten and thought it was her mother.**

**She sighed and shook off the disappointment. When she opened her eyes, she found Carole looking worriedly at her.**

"**Are you alright, Dawn? You have dark circles under your eyes. Didn't you sleep well?"**

**She sat up and rubbed at her heavy eyelids, feeling the familiar sensation of a sleeping pill hangover. "I'm fine," she insisted. "I was just really in a deep sleep. You said Tara was coming?"**

"**Right. Time to get up and throw something on. I'm going to go down and get you some orange juice ready – do want something to eat?"**

"**Um… just some toast if you have it? I don't want to put you out."**

"**Don't be silly," Carole smiled. "I'm going to fry you up some bacon."**

**As Carole started to leave, Dawn interrupted her, "Carole? Thanks. I know that things get… uh… messy, when you're dealing with our junk. But, thanks."**

"**It's fine, Honey. I'm glad to help out any way that I can."**

"**This is sounding distressingly familiar," Lavinia said in a tone that sounded like she was trying to bite back some anger and give him a fair hearing.**

**They were sitting in her lovely, little house at a small round table in the breakfast nook. The sun dappled through a box window. Its rays were reflected into a prism of rainbow colors from the sun catcher of hummingbirds hanging in the window. The table had a clean, yellow cloth draped over it on which were dishes of scrambled eggs, buttered toast, sausage links and strong tea. They went largely untouched, though everything smelled homey and delicious.**

"**I know. I cannot possibly apologize enough for, again, being so abrupt."**

"**I knew getting involved with another Council man was a mistake," she muttered in exasperation, while rubbing at her forehead. "But when the man in question is so cute, a woman's heart can overrule her head," she added amusedly.**

**Things quickly turned serious again between them. "Do you know how long you'll be in England?"**

"**I-I'm afraid not. I- That is to say, there is a serious matter that I must deal with, and the Council… well… I don't know what their reaction will be, but it won't be 'forgiving', I'm sure."**

"**Rupert, I'm really trying to be understanding here."**

"**I know."**

"**But, it would really help if I knew why you had to return. What won't they be 'forgiving' about? What is happening?"**

"**I would rather not discuss it at length… but… you deserve to know something of the man you've become involved with, I suppose. Though, I fear your reaction when you learn all of it…."**

**Xander had also awoken, though a few hours of sleep hadn't had a very restorative effect. This time he was in the large bed he'd used to share with Anya. He'd never moved out of the small, windowless spare room after they'd broken up. He thought that she'd be coming back from her 'break' and they'd resume playing house, even if they weren't together-together. Now, with her and Oz….**

**Well, it seemed ridiculous to leave the large bedroom empty. And, he did like sleeping in the warm weather with the windows opened to the fresh air that blew in from the west and the ocean.**

**As he stood at the foot of the bed and began to envision how he'd make the room his own, the phone began to ring in the kitchen. From the sound, it wasn't Joe with another job, but was the house phone instead.**

**Once he'd picked up, he found Tara on the other end.**

"**Hey, good morning, T."**

"**Thank goodness, you're there, Xander. And, you're sounding not Hyena-ish, too. What in the world happened last night?"**

"**Uh… it's a long story… but I didn't kill Warren and I drank your potion. But, when Spike and I returned to the house, you guys weren't there – is everyone okay?"**

"**Not really," Tara sighed. "But that's a long story, too. The short version? Giles went dark and tore up his apartment… again and did my potion work? Are you alright? You should have waited for me to be there… I'm not sure about side-effects."**

"**It was rough. Spike's pissy – is Dawn with you guys?"**

"**With the Steins. Spike will calm down, he likes me; we need a meeting to discuss Giles and the house and everything that's happened. Oh, and Buffybot is damaged – we don't know how badly, but we'll have to step up patrols until Wills can work on her."**

"**No problem. I'm going to check in with my boss, Joe, and see if there's any sign of work. We'll need the money – some of the damage at the house seems pretty bad, then I'll head over there to start assessing."**

"**We're going to grab Dawn and head over there, too. Maybe … and that's a not-very-confident maybe, we can find some sort of magic to help repair things."**

"**Any little bit in a storm… things looked pretty awful. I'm afraid the city might condemn the house for the fire damage alone. You guys may need to stay here or with Giles for a while."**

"**Giles' place isn't exactly livable, either, but we'll get you caught up. We'll see you soon."**

"**Bye, Tara," Xander sighed. **_**The house and Giles'? This should be a fun few weeks.**_

**It was later that same day, a bit after noon, when Tara, Willow and Dawn pulled up in front of the Summers' place. All three gasped in shock at the amount of damage evident from the curb.**

**Xander's Taurus was there as well and they could see him on the front porch with a measuring tape in hand and jotting something on a pad of paper. Also at the curb was a dark blue, late model Corolla. As Dawn opened a door of Tara's Escort and exited, the woman in the Corolla also exited her car.**

**Tara frowned immediately, sensing something. Willow also wore a grim expression.**

**The woman was dressed rather formally in a peach colored suit jacket over a white blouse and a skirt matching the business suitcoat. Her red hair was wound up tightly in a bun and she had a pen perched behind one ear. Her feet were shod in white, no-nonsense, thick-soled shoes, very much like nurses wore. She was carrying a burgundy colored notebook. A peach-colored bead necklace and some pale lipstick completed her look.**

**From the porch, Xander started to give them a wave, but it froze in curious puzzlement as he saw the stranger approaching Dawn while calling a hello to her by name. **

**Reaching out a hand toward Tara, who was the only blonde of the small group, the woman put on a business-like polite smile.**

"**Ms. Summers? Ms. Buffy Summers? I'm Golda Sinclair, Social Services Councilor. It's a pleasure to meet you."**

"**O-oh, no. No, I'm Tara… Maclay."**

"**Oh, dear, I'm very sorry. The files say that Buffy is blonde," she turned her moving forward hand aside in mid-gesture toward Willow.**

"**Willow Rosenberg," the red-head said coolly. "Also, not Buffy."**

"**Oh," Golda lowered her hand with a puzzled look. "But, you are Dawn Summers?"**

"**Y-yeah."**

"**And, your sister isn't here? That's interesting. May I ask what your **(now turning her attention to the two adults)** relationship is to Dawn and Buffy, and where the sister is, if not with Dawn," the entire time jotting something in her binder.**

"**Good friends," Tara replied. "Best friends," Willow said. "Like my aunts," Dawn spoke, all of their answers crashing into one another.**

"**Best aunt-like friends, fine," the Councilor gave a half-hearted smile while jotting. "And Buffy Summers? Where is your sister, Dawn?"**

"… **Uh, she's shopping. At the store. Uh, pricing out, you know, stuff, that we need," Dawn fumbled through an answer.**

**Tara then interceded with a warm smile. The warm smile she was used to using when dealing with difficult people, like her father back in Louisiana. "She's trying to find deals on the new doors and windows they'll be needing, while we're here to… uh… to collect… the things for Dawn! You know, because she's staying with ****Detective Rick Stein and his wife**** during the re-modeling."**

**Tara shared a triumphant smile with Willow as Golda jotted that information down.**

"**Right! The Steins," Willow added. "Thank goodness we're such good friends with a Sunnydale police detective whose help we can rely on."**

"**Uh, yeah, they've been so great! Like family," Dawn overemphasized awkwardly.**

"**I see. Well, that is nice. You certainly can't remain here looking at this mess. And, we haven't even had a tour of the inside of the house, yet."**

"**I-i-inside? The house?" Dawn had paled significantly. The last time she'd seen indoors, there was a lumbering robotic-demon-zombie standing in the foyer. Not to mention her 'sister' sitting on the sofa with her guts-wires hanging out all over.**

"**Yes," Mrs. Sinclair smiled. "Shall we?"**

End Chapter 4

(1) Xander must have repaired (between chapters) Giles' damaged apartment from _Battling with a God, Chapter 16 – Power_.


	5. Rough Visits

**Coming of the Scooby Army**

Ch 5 – Rough Visits

"**Uh, of course," Tara smiled pleasantly before giving Willow a panic-stricken look.**

**Golda Sinclair marched briskly across the lawn sharing a curious smile with Xander who was still watching the stranger.**

"**Good Morning! And, you would be…," she called up to the front porch.**

"**Xander. Alexander Harris." He gave curious glances to the three girls walking along behind her.**

"**Nice to meet you Mr. Harris – can I get some information from you? Are you a contractor – or another 'like-family friend' of Ms. Summers?"**

"**He's like my uncle," Dawn snippily said behind the Social Worker. "My sister's been friends with all of them for years, now."**

"**How nice," Ms. Sinclair replied, jotting again in her binder and not turning in Dawn's direction. "Well, I suppose we'll need to enter from the back?"**

"**Um, the place really isn't presentable," Tara tried to dissuade her. "I mean, the attack only came last night! We haven't even gotten to see the extent of the damage."**

"**Well, that's why I'm here," Golda said over her shoulder in a pleasant enough tone. "To see the current living environment of Dawn. We all want what's best for her, after all."**

"**B-but, I'm not living here right now," Dawn pointed out. "We told you, I'm staying with Detective Stein and Carole… uh, his wife?"**

"**Yes, yes, Dear, but that's not a permanent situation, now is it," Golda counter-argued, as she led the way toward the back of the house. At the same time she was distastefully looking down at the carpet of gnats that lay dead across the expanse of lawn. She jotted down more notes. "Do you have an insect infestation?"**

"**Not in the house," Willow answered, still sounding grim. "A-and, they just swarmed during all of the trouble last night. We don't usually have this problem."**

"**We," the Councilor came to an abrupt stop and turned to face the young women. "****We****? Am I to take it that you are actually living here?"**

"**Is that a crime," Willow answered rudely, causing Tara to cut in.**

"**We moved in to help out Buffy and Dawn following Mrs. Summers' passing," she said. **

"**Oh. Well, I wish that had been in the file," she turned, jotting and walking up the side yard. "Is there anyone else I should know about?"**

**Willow glared at the woman's back, while Dawn bit her lip in worry. She didn't seem to like any of their answers so far.**

"**William," Tara answered. "He acts as a sitter for Dawn while we're out."**

"**Not a sitter! I don't need a 'sitter'," Dawn interjected. "I'm fifteen! I'm almost sixteen!"**

"**And, does this William have a last name?"**

"**Uh…," Tara said, uncertainly. The other girls didn't know Spike's last name, either. He was just 'Spike'… the vampire. She was pretty sure Golda Sinclair would like that information even less than everything else she was so busy jotting down.**

**The troop had reached the side-yard back door by this time and Golda stopped to share a practiced neutral look with the three others.**

"**You have a man living here and you don't know his last name? Does that seem wise or safe?"**

**None of the girls had an answer to her frown and she quickly jotted another note in her burgundy binder. "I'll certainly need to speak with him."**

**Marsha Gannon took herself weakly to bed. She'd tried to eat something before turning in for the morning, but she felt like a wreck. The previous night there'd been a downpour of monsoon proportion and despite changing her clothes at the station house, she felt like she was coming down with a bad flu. Her head was the worst; it had ached steadily throughout the long night of her shift and she'd barely been able to make it home. She'd never had a migraine before, but this sure felt like what she'd heard described. Every sound seemed to be amplified and the aspirins she'd popped all night were hardly making a dent.**

**Crawling between the sheets, she buried her face into the pillow seeking the solace of darkness. She just wanted desperately to get to sleep and escape the agony in her head.**

**In her mind, the Hellmouth Wisp continued a non-stop litany of everything that was wrong with Carole Stein and how she had unfairly stopped Marsha from having her shot at Rick.**

**In the dining nook of Lavinia Mills', there was utter silence for several minutes. She was looking down into her cup of coffee while she absently pushed around congealing egg with her fork.**

**Giles had just explained as much as he dared about what he'd done, starting with hiding a powerful magic tome from the Council through to his misadventures the night before. The only thing he'd left out of the Glory affair was Buffy's death, Dawn's nature and his execution of Ben, the living prison for Glorificus.**

"**So…, you see…, well."**

"**I-I can understand desperation," Lavinia said. "But, as a Watcher, surely you knew afterward you'd need some sort of cleansing ritual? I mean, my ex-husband was only a translator and I know ****that****much****," she said judgmentally.**

"**I confess I suspected as much," Rupert glanced out of the window. "But, well, I was embarrassed. Only an actual witch can properly perform such a ritual, as you may know, and I couldn't allow myself to look so weak in front of Tara or Willow. 'Pride cometh before the fall' they say… obviously, it isn't just a homily."**

"**Oh, Rupert. And, the Council's role? How did they even find out?"**

"**I told them," he said, surprised by the question. "After my appalling behavior, they had to know that I was no longer up to my duties."**

"**B-but, you said that Tara was able to perform the ritual. Why would you tell Travers anything?! He's never struck me as the most empathetic individual… always a stickler for protocol, rather than necessity, as far as I could tell."**

"**Tara did perform the ritual," Giles assured her. "But, it will have limited effect due to the level of darkness that I opened myself up to. And, as for Willow, I fear the young lady simply doesn't have the proper training…. **

"**No, I must report to the coven in Devon, and there was no way to make that happen without the Council's support."**

"**And what of your charge? Can't she… I don't know… provide testimony for you? It may make a difference after you've gone through the Purging."**

"**There are reasons that I won't allow the Slayer to go to England."**

"**Rupert, that makes no sense! If she can help you by insisting that you had no choice to stop that psychotic goddess…!"**

"**No! I cannot go into that detail, Lavinia, but Buffy will ****not**** be leaving Sunnydale. I insist you drop this," he reacted more forcefully than he meant… and immediately regretted it. "I-I'm sorry… I-I didn't mean to grow loud. I fear it's an after effect of what I've done, still. And is the perfect example of why I must accept the Council's judgment in exchange for help from Devon. Please… accept my apology? And… and do not wait for me, here. I don't know if I'll be able to return."**

**Giles stood up from the table. On his way past her, he leaned in to kiss the top of her head. Without another word, he made his way to the front door and out into the hot sun.**

**Lavinia allowed him to go.**

**Immediately after the group of four entered Dawn's kitchen, a pale blur came from out of nowhere and grabbed a hold of Tara's elbow.**

"**We need to talk," Spike said brusquely, ignoring the others with her.**

"**S-spike?"**

"**I need to talk to you," he repeated, guiding her forward toward the basement.**

"**Uh… Mr. 'Spike' did she call you? I have some questions…," Golda began.**

"**Whoever you are and whatever you want, I need Tara's attention right now," he cut her off.**

"**I'm Mrs. Golda Sinclair… Dawn's Social Services Councilor. And, I'm afraid I must insist on a moment of your time before I go."**

"**Sure," he said, in a tone that made it clear he was blowing her off.**

**Continuing to march Tara to the other side of the kitchen, he opened the basement door and then, letting go of her, stomped down the stairs beyond.**

"**Uh, e-excuse me," Tara apologized, before gently closing the door behind her.**

"**Um… Spike… I mean, William, gets grumpy in the mornings," Willow tried to smooth over the uncomfortable silence left in his wake. "He, uh, he's usually in bed by now."**

"**Bed? He stays up all hours of the night," Golda gave her an arched eyebrow, before turning to jot down something.**

"**He ****works**** nights," Dawn told her with exasperation. **_**Of course, he works sitting on his ass in the hallway guarding me from the non-existent House Monsters, but it sounded good, **_**she congratulated herself.**

"**Oh! Then he helps with the household budget?"**

"**Of course!" Dawn sucked her teeth in irritation with this busy-body.**

**In the meantime, Willow flinched, suspecting what would come out of the Councilor's mouth next.**

"**Wonderful! I'll need a copy of a current pay stub for the file," she made yet another note. "I suppose I can speak to him later about his exact role here, but right now, I believe we should take a look at the front of the home and the presumed damages there. I've already noted the damage to this door over here," she waved her pen in the general direction of the back porch door. "I'm so pleased that you all had the presence of mind to find a place for Dawn to stay," she added to Willow with a small smile. "It shows a great deal of foresight under what was no doubt a lot of stress. Of course, I haven't seen the police report, yet. I hope I won't find that there was a specific reason for your being targeted last night?"**

"**We don't do drugs in this house or anywhere else," Willow responded coldly.**

"**Well… teenagers can get into a lot of trouble behind even the most ardent parent's back," she gave Dawn a questioning glance.**

"**Hey," the teen replied indignantly. "I haven't even had a joint, yet!"**

"**Yet?" Another arched brow.**

"**I mean… I don't do drugs! And, I think dealers are scum, so don't even go there," Dawn replied angrily.**

"**I don't think you need to take that tone with me, Dawn. I'm only doing my job to make sure that you are in a secure and healthy environment. And, well, I've seen other children with your type of academic… lapses… and often there's an underlying reason. I'm just trying to get to the bottom of it for your own good."**

"**It's called 'not liking school' and it had nothing to do with anything wrong that I or my family are doing," Dawn nearly yelled.**

"**Dawn," Willow said in a warning tone. "Let's calm down, huh? Mrs. Sinclair is right. She's doing her job by trying to ****protect**** you, and we have to be cooperative so she can see that you're being looked after properly by ****Buffy****." She turned to the Councilor with a smile that felt so faked she was sure her face would crack, "We just help out where we can. Let's take a look in the living room and dining room – that's where the most damage is."**

**As she led the way, she was already formulating a 'knock out' spell in case they found Adam still standing where they'd left him.**

End Ch 5


	6. Rough Visits, Part II

Coming of the Scooby Army

**Ch 6 – Rough Visits, Part II**

"**Spike, this isn't a good time for one of your cranky fits," Tara whispered harshly after closing the door between the basement and kitchen. "That's a ****social worker**** up there and it'll be hard enough covering for 'Buffy'."**

"**Forget that for a minute," Spike turned halfway in her direction, stopping them both on the stairs.**

**Tara gasped in surprise to see the Buffybot lying in a twisted heap on the stairwell landing. Her head was turned in an unnatural manner, her face pressing into the floorboard, despite her lying mostly on her back. From her mid-section, wires and cabling poked even worse than when she was on the sofa.**

**Spike ignored her reaction, "Xander drank that potion to banish Hyena, and it was a mess. What the hell was in that?"**

**He turned and continued marching down the stairs, stepping over the robot remains without a second glance.**

"**Xander told me. You should have waited for me," she said, stopping to brush Buffybot's hair as she sighed. "Poor 'Bot. You could have been more gentle with her… and put her somewhere out of the way."**

"**You think ****I**** threw her there?! Must have been Rick. And, Its not important. Xander is. And, I'm already pissed at myself for not waiting for you – I should have known that we needed a witch here."**

**Tara stepped gingerly over the robot to join Spike on the cement floor. "Well, you need to pick her up please, and put her somewhere else until Willow can take a look. And, I spoke with Xander this morning, he seems fine. In fact, he's outside right now working."**

"**He's here?! Now?" Spike looked disturbed and discomfited.**

"**Right, so you see, there's nothing to worry about. Whatever the effect was, it seems to have done its job and he's no worse for wear."**

"**Except for the part where he rushed out of the house this morning, and then came back and didn't bother stopping in to let me know he was here."**

"**I'm sure he thought you were sleeping Spike… as you should be – it's very late for you. Is there a specific problem?"**

"**I don't need to be told how late it is," he responded irritably. "And the problem, ****specifically****, is I think he's upset that we'd been fucking."**

"**Spike," Tara said harshly. "You don't have to be graphic."**

"**I think he's upset 'cause we did the hot, horizontal tango," Spike sneered. "Christ, I need a cigarette."**

"**And, a nap. Look, I'll talk to him, but I'm not sure what you want me to do. I mean, I'm not sure what to say."**

"**I want… I want things between us to be like they were before the potion. That's all," Spike grumped. "I wanted to get rid of the psycho-animal, not my bedmate."**

**Tara shrugged and sighed. "You had to expect that without the Hyena personality, things might change, Spike. And, until I talk to Xander, I'm not sure that you're not overreacting just a little bit."**

"**I'm not. I can tell. Fix it," Spike stomped past her to head back upstairs. Pointedly, Tara was sure, not stopping to move the heap that was the robot.**

**Willow led the way through the swinging door from the kitchen into the large living room, nearly squinting her eyes shut. She was afraid of, and expected, a scream when Mrs. Sinclair got an eyeful of Adam standing in his demonic-robotic glory.**

**Imagine her surprise when the lumbering former menace was no where to be seen. She stumbled to a stop, staring wide-eyed as not only was Adam missing, so were the Buffybot and Faithbot.**

**She turned to see Dawn standing behind the social worker, also looking around the room for the missing beings. When she caught the look on Willow's face, she gave her a puzzled shrug. **_**Xander? Spike, maybe?**_

"**Well. This does look bad," the Sinclair woman needlessly pointed out. The room was in a dark gloom, thanks to the board now hanging where there used to be a picture window. There was more than enough light however, to see the sofa with its large burn mark and the soot covering the ceiling above it. "Yes, yes, definitely in your favor that you didn't have Dawn staying the night here," she clucked to herself, making a note of some sort in her binder.**

**Dawn scowled at her back, her arms crossed at her waist, angrily. She went to say something, but Willow nudged her into closing her mouth.**

"**We're just lucky to have gotten the fire extinguished as quickly as we did," Willow murmured, though behind Golda Sinclair's back, she also wore a displeased scowl. This was quickly replaced by a small smile as the social worker turned in their direction. Dawn, however, didn't bother to hide her irritation.**

"**We're not complete idiots," she said.**

"**Dawn, I think it would be helpful if you went upstairs to collect your things for the Steins. Remember, you have a week of school left, so you'll need appropriate clothes for that," Willow said. "I don't want to see a suitcase full of nothing but shorts," she phony smiled, trying to keep things light and friendly for their visitor.**

"**Sure." Dawn rolled her eyes before heading up the stairs.**

**Once they'd watched her go up, Willow turned again to the problem at hand, "You wanted to see the dining room damage? It's right over here, opposite the living room."**

"**She seems very angry to me. Very defensive."**

"**She's had a rough time," Willow said with as much neutrality as she could manage. "Her mother's only died a few months ago, after all. Now, this. We're all still trying to cope with the fact that Joyce won't be in the kitchen making us waffles."**

"**You've been close with the family," Mrs. Sinclair questioned, her pen hovering over the opened binder.**

"**Very close. Mrs. Summers… well, let's just say that I miss her every single day," Willow shared, before taking a deep breath. "Here, let's take a look… you can see the damage isn't as bad in here…."**

**Spike was headed for the stairs to the second floor, when he stopped for a moment, resting his hand against the front door… now plywood standing in. He tried to feel Xander, willing for the young man to come in from the harsh sunlit world for just a minute, but though he could hear his bootfalls on the porch, he didn't sound like he was sensing anything.**

**The clumsy meatsack in the hideous outfit cleared her throat from the ruins of the dining room, catching his attention and he fought not to give her a demon-snarl. Despite his temperamental behavior in the kitchen, it wasn't lost on him that this woman could cause a truckload of problems if not delicately handled.**

"**Yes, Ma'am," he gave her his swaggering smile, hearing her heart beat faster for a moment. **_**Not even if you knew how to dress, Sow.**_

"**Ah," he saw her face flush pinkish for a moment. It wasn't an unusual reaction to his looks, and he'd used this very reaction more than once throughout his existence to get what he wanted. "I-I just need some information… for my file… to-to help Dawn," she managed to stutter out.**

**Leaning on the aura of his vampiric nature, he gave her a friendly and just slightly predatory smile; just enough to give her subconscious mind some very naughty images of the possibilities. It was one of the gifts of being turned, though the longer you were associated with an individual, he'd found, the less impact it actually had.**

"**I'd love to help," he said easily. "What can I provide to you," he winked and grinned. He was sure that she'd be spending the rest of the day trying hard not to picture what he looked like without his clothing. Another trick he'd picked up among the years was the way he stood, with his hips ever so slightly thrust forward, allowing her unconscious to visualize what may be tucked in the front of his tight jeans.**

**Behind the lady, Willow rolled her eyes at him and silently mouthed, "**_**Don't over do it, Slut**_**."**

"**W-well, first, of course, would be a last name. I-it seems that no one knows who you are, here," Golda nervously laughed, before clearing her throat. "I'm sure that at least Buffy must know it?"**

"**Smyth. William Randall Smyth," he replied smoothly with another smile that seemed to carry **_**something**_** vaguely dirty underneath. "That would be with a 'y', luv." **(1)

"**Oh, yes… wonderful," she said, jotting in her notebook. "A-and, I understand you work nights? I'd like a copy of your paystub… the latest one you have. W-we need to see what sort of income is coming into the household… I'm sure you understand," she glanced up through her bangs and seeing him looking at her, immediately gave her undivided attention to her binder, again.**

**Spike was thrown off for a second… 'Paystub?' 'Employer'… just what exactly had the girls been making up off the cuff?!**

_**You don't keep your paystubs, but you'll get her one, **_**he suddenly heard Willow's voice in his head. **_**You work… I don't know… some sort of night job! And, don't say at the bloodbank!**_

"**I'm working security," he said to the woman, waiting to jot her little notes. "I'm afraid I don't have any paystubs," he said with a devilish grin. "Tend not to keep that sort of thing," he looked away bashfully… just so… for her benefit. "I know I'm supposed to…, but….. **

"**I'll get one from work and make sure you get a copy. Whatever you need."**

"**Y-yes. That would be fine."**

"**Then, if you'll excuse me ladies… I need to get to bed."**

**In the room at the top of the stairs, he found Dawn angrily throwing clothes into a suitcase.**

"**Hey, you alright," he gave a concerned look.**

"**Yeah, sure," Dawn shrugged, pouting. "I ****don't need**** that bitch downstairs judging my family. I'm so pissed at Ms. Portlynn for starting this whole thing!"**

"**Yeah, well… we'll get through it," he shrugged lazily.**

"**Spike," Dawn said with exasperation. "I kind of need you to be on my side on this one and, you know, be angry along with me."**

**He gave her a smirk before taking the few steps into her room that it took to reach her. Giving her a quick peck on the forehead, he brushed her hair back with those cool, cool fingers. **

"**I'm always on your side, Pint. Always. But, wishin' and hopin' ain't going to make her go away. So, let's just try to be civil to her, so she jots down more good stuff than bad stuff and get through this, okay?"**

**She sighed, reaching for a small make up case. "I'll try. But, I'm not going to let them take me anywhere! I don't care what ****she**** thinks."**

"**If it comes to that, we'll go on the run… like a regular Bonnie and Clyde. I promised your Sis I'd do whatever it took to look after you. I'm keeping that promise. But, it's not the time to go off half-cocked. Now, you finish what you're doing… I gotta get some sleep before I forget I'm not supposed to bite people anymore. You goin' back to Rick's?"**

"**Yeah, I guess that's the plan. Carole is nice enough, but ****this**** is my home. I don't wanna stay with them."**

"**You'll be back before you know it."**

End Ch 6

(1) Yes, I know I gave Spike a different last name in _Hunting Our Needs_. Spike is unnecessarily lying here.


	7. Moving Towards Goodbye

**Coming of the Scooby Army**

Ch 7 - Moving Towards Good-bye

**It was afternoon and another hot one in Sunnydale. Xander sat at the kitchen counter with a calculator and his list of everything he'd seen wrong at Dawn's house. It wasn't pretty.**

**Buffybot's fraudulent stipend from the Council barely covered the mortgage payment, meaning that it was off the table for repair funds. Joe had told Xan only an hour before that there was still no immediate work on the horizon. It was possible that he'd be given a subcontract on clearing away the rest of the debris from Glory's destroyed condo, but he wasn't sure if he'd have a budget to bring any of the guys back with him. He'd also put out feelers for the rebuilding of Sunnydale High, but as far as anyone knew, they hadn't even gotten to the stage yet where they had a design firm hired.**

**Xan blew out a lungful of frustration and stood up, walking away from the mess. He wouldn't dare give voice to the opinion that Joyce wasn't very smart when it came to insurance coverage, but it was a fact that she'd left them in a jam. Her life insurance policy was pretty much gone at this point, mostly spent on the monthly utilities and Dawn's voracious appetite for clothes. Tara could have put her foot down long before now about her tendency to need new jeans or tops all of the time, but what was done was done now.**

**Pushing the problem away, he grabbed the phone and walked out onto the veranda. With a quick dial, he sat down in the shade and listened to the traffic out on the streets.**

"**Hey, you," a familiar voice answered. "If this is an apocalypse warning, I'm totally hanging up."**

"**Hey Cord. No 'end of the world' news… except for Dawn, maybe, if she doesn't find the perfect birthday gift for the young teen stud she's eyeing. Much to Spike's chagrin, by the way."**

"**Well, then as much as I love hearing updates on Sunnydale… the very, very few times that I actually get updated… what in the world are you calling about?"**

"**Dawn. Next week is the last for her at summer school and I'm hoping you'd spend some time with her."**

"**Of course! I promised that girl a facial massage that she'd kill for. When you shipping her up," Cordelia replied enthusiastically.**

"**Ah, and therein lies the problem."**

"**Let me take a stab in the dark… Spike is being an overprotective ass and is threatening to either abduct her until the new school year, or chasing her up here."**

"**Very good," he laughed. "You get a vision of that?"**

"**Nope. Just my natural insight into the Scooby dynamics. It didn't take a psychologist to see his attachment to her. When he was here, and wasn't getting drunk with Angel on Wes' scotch, she was all he talked about. If he could still bite, I'd be concerned."**

"**Spike and Angel?! Drinking together? Without an ax in sight? I find this hard to accept. Wish I could have seen that."**

"**A world of no. It was maudlin, tragic, and they're both criers. So, if Dawn can't come up here, and Sunnydale has no spas last I checked, what are we supposed to do?"**

"**We're thinking somewhere between. Neutral ground where Angel won't be and Spike can stop with the jealousy-competitive thing."**

"**Hmm…," Cordelia hummed. In the background, Xan could hear her typing on a keyboard. "Well, we have a three star in Santa Ana… a two star place in Murrietta, which hello? NO. Here's a three-star place in Huntington Beach… and it has horses! Now, normally, I want you to know, I'd never even consider a three star place… but for Dawnie, I'll suffer."**

"**Either of 'em should work. Now, I just have to convince a certain man, using the term loosely, to back off a little."**

"**I'm carrying holy water. If he becomes a thorn in my side, I'll sprinkle him."**

"**Nice," Xan snorted.**

"**Hey, taking care of hard-headed vamps isn't only a Sunnydale thing, you know. Sometimes you need to be a bit forceful to get the point across. They're not so good with subtlety. Which works out just fine, since I'm not either," she said with an obvious grin, even over the phone.**

"**Then give me a call in the middle of the week and I'll start the ball rolling over here?"**

"**Sure thing. Gotta run though, we have a possible demon sighting in the sewers… why is it ****always**** the frickin' sewers?"**

"**Okay… take care of yourself, Cordy."**

"**You guys, too. And tell Dawn if she doesn't pass, not only is this trip off, but if I have to make a special visit all the way down there, I'm really going to be pissy."**

"**Hah, will do," Xan laughed again and he disconnected. And then, with a groan, he went back to his estimates and tried to find where he could cut the final cost.**

-

**Marsha Gannon stood swaying in a daze as she looked over the glass gun cabinet hanging on the wall. She'd woken up barely an hour before and though her head still hurt, the pain was this far off thing that she couldn't focus on.**

**Before her, hanging from wood pegs behind the glass, hung a small collection of antique guns that had belonged to her father. He'd been a collector and she'd first learned how to handle and care for them before she'd ever thought of being a cop and carrying her own. The cabinet contained small, yellow recessed lighting casting an amber glow over the metal of the firearms.**

**The thing from the Hellmouth had spent far, far too long stuck with this woman. Its mounting frustration, however, was finally easing into the far more pleasurable sense of anticipation. She was so very close….**

**Marsha unlocked the cabinet and reached in to take down one of the displayed weapons. It was warm to her hand and made a soft 'snickt' noise as she opened the revolver's chamber. It was unloaded of course and rather than reach for the bullets immediately as the impatient Wisp wished, she stumbled over to the sofa and sat down heavily.**

**Rubbing the barrel, the trigger, the polished handle made her feel a little better; gave her something other than the persistent headache building in her skull. She remembered her father's lessons, the way he always stressed safety, but couldn't keep the excited grin from his face no matter how serious he'd tried to be. He had loved the history surrounding the antique she now caressed, an 1890 Colt Model P. The Solid-Frame Army Colt barrel was 7 and 1/2 inches long and so ****solid**** in her hands. It took .45 bullets, a box of which were in the drawers under the display cabinet. It had been expertly cared for and would fire now just as smoothly as it had when it'd been used by the Texas Rangers a hundred years ago. She stood up and walked over to the drawer, unlocking it and pulling out the box of ammunition. Returning to the sofa, she slowly loaded the chamber, savoring the way the bullets seemed custom made to slide gently into the waiting slots. **

**Modern guns, like her police issued one, could fire off a number of rounds in a shorter span of time than those lawmen of yesteryear could scarcely have imagined, but there was nothing like holding a real piece of the past to fire up the imagination. Marsha put the barrel close to her face and closed her eyes, smelling the faint trace of metal polish and remembered the good times she'd had with her father. She'd always hoped to share his stories and his lessons with a child of her own someday, and maybe she would have, if it wasn't for Carole Stein's interference.**

**She held the loaded gun as gently as a distraught child being comforted by its mother as she drifted into a deep sleep. Her dreams were filled with the sounds of her father's laugh and the gleam in his eyes as they wandered through touristy 'old west' towns. In her dreams she was still a little girl and every time he pointed out a Winchester or Colt and began to tell her who'd used them and how and why, she grinned in rapt attention.**

**The Wisp smiled too. It had finally won. Marsha just didn't realize it yet.**

-

**Back at Xander's, he tried to re-work the numbers for the fifth time trying to convince them that the Summers' home repairs would fit into the budget, despite their stubborn resistance. Joyce's fire and damage insurance had a hefty five-thousand dollar deductible and they had no idea when the insurance company would be forthcoming with their end of the money… he just hoped that Tara or Willow had contacted Sunnydale Mutual Protection sometime that day. He'd have to remember to mention it.**

**By coincidence, his phone chose to ring at that moment and on the other end was, in fact, Tara. She didn't sound very happy.**

"**Hey Tara," he said amiably enough. He could suddenly feel his lack of decent sleep, however, as he geared himself up for the next disaster.**

"**Hi, Xan. I'm just calling to plan a Scooby dinner meeting," she sighed. "I'm afraid we're going to have to discuss how we're going to handle Mrs. Sinclair - ****that woman****," she said with obvious distaste. Xander had never heard her actually use a negative tone toward someone before and he figured that he wasn't the only one feeling stressed toward the end of his limit. Tara continued, "It'll be convenient since Giles needs to talk to us anyway about, well, what I mentioned earlier. I have a bad feeling about that, too."**

"**Yeah. Well. I have news, too," he said with no enthusiasm. "Have you guys gotten in touch with the insurance agency about the damages there?"**

"**Monday. Rick is going to get us an expedited police report showing us as emphatically not having any criminal activity involved in Warren's attack on us. We should decide how much we want to press Rick on letting us handle him ourselves, or if we should let the police deal with this one."**

"**If Buffy were here, she'd probably kick his ass, but would basically tell us he's human and that human laws apply."**

"**I know," Tara said with a trace of worry. "But, I'm not sure Willow is going to agree. She's been talking about having Spike break into one of their homes… Warren or that skinny guy… and stealing something for a locator spell. Xan, I know we have a lot to worry about," her voice had dropped to near a whisper, "But, I'm concerned about Will. She's already researching that ****other**** dangerous magic I told you about, and well, after Giles you'd think she would at least hesitate to throw spells around lightly, but it's like it's her first response anymore. I don't know… maybe I'm just really pooped…."**

"**I know how you feel."**

"**Oh, listen, Spike had some choice words for me earlier too, before he finally went to bed. You should have said 'hi' to him when you came over."**

"**He should have been deep asleep by then. And, if he's giving you attitude I'm going to stake his ass… you got enough to worry about without his crap."**

"**I can handle, Spike," she said. "I'm just sorry that I caused, in a way, this problem between the two of you. But, I want you to know that whatever you decide about, uh, seeing him or not, well, I don't think there is a wrong answer here. Spike is just going to have to grow up with the rest of us. God, I hope he's asleep or I'm going to pay for that comment," she gave a small laugh.**

"**Vampires aren't so good with the maturing," Xan chuckled back. "I'm going to need you and Willow though to do the magic that the two of you do so well. I talked to Cordy about Dawn spending a few days being pampered with her, but there's no way that can happen if we can't convince Spike that Dawn'll be undetectable as not-quite-human."**

"**I know. And, we're close to something. I just need another day or three. Willow's going to give us a report on Buffybot and what we'll need to repair her… assuming we're not totally screwed, and with our luck lately…."**

"**Hey, hey! You and me are the only ones right now that are keeping our heads together and I've already got dibs on being the pessimist. I need you, Tara, to tell me everything is going to be okay."**

**After the slightest of hesitations, she responded with an obviously forced light tone, "Everything will work out for our benefit. Could we meet at your place? I have this dread that Mrs. Sinclair is going to pop up on a surprise visit just to make sure that Dawnie isn't staying here."**

"**Sure thing. I'll order pizzas - it's easiest. Sixish?"**

"**Maybe eight would be better. If we don't include Spike he's going to feel even worse about the potion's aftermath on you."**

"**Okay. Ask Giles if he could stop for soda or tea or something… my fridge is a bit bare bones right now."**

"**See ya, Xan. Try not to stress out too much - I really do believe that we're reaching the end of the bad luck… we're due for something to break our way…."**

**End Ch 7**


	8. Changes Don't Stop Coming

**Coming of the Scooby Army**

Ch 8 - Changes Don't Stop Coming

**The meeting at Xander's that evening commenced in the way that every meeting should commence according to him, stuffing the face with pizza. Dawn excitedly talked about the party the following day and how much she really liked this Kevin guy, much to Spike's irritation. **

"**If this bloke lays a hand on you wrong, I get Dru here to rip his head from his shoulders."**

"**God, Spike, I want to date him - it's not like we're heading straight for make-out point," Dawn rolled her eyes. Before adding with a mischievous grin, "That's for the third date."**

"**Not. Funny," he shot back.**

"**I just hope that I can figure out some not-lame giftage," she ignored him in favor of Tara who was more encouraging with her. "I don't want to embarrass myself and blow this before I even have a chance…."**

**Tara, as expected, gave her a shot of confidence, "We're going to find something great, Dawn. Believe me, he'll be both impressed and attracted."**

"**Yes, well this has been stimulating," Giles broke in lightly, "But I'm relatively sure that tonight's meeting wasn't actually about Dawn's social life - fascinating as it may be."**

"**Spoilsport," Dawn grinned at him.**

"**I do hereby call this Executive Session of the Scooby Gang to order," Xan joked officiously, "And to start, I've got some preliminary numbers on the home repairs. Much as I hate to ruin the mood, it's not pretty, gang. We're definitely looking at enough damage to have to deal with the insurance, but even with that, the deductible is pretty high."**

"**Wills and I were talking about that…," Tara said.**

"… **And you found a 'construction enchantment," Xan interrupted jokingly.**

"**Not quite," she smiled back, "But we were wondering if maybe you could ask some of your construction friends to help out? We can't pay them much, but we can supply food…"**

"… **and beer," Willow added. "Construction-y macho guys like the beer."**

"**I'll reach out," he confirmed, "But we still have to deal with materials."**

"**Can always steal 'em," Spike volunteered, and then to his received looks, "What?! I am still the demon-guy, you know, just 'cause I'm ****slightly**** more house trained these days."**

"**I think I have a better option," Giles offered. Reaching into a briefcase that had earned a few curious glances when he'd shown up, he slid a large, thick and white envelope across the table.**

**When he opened it, Xander found a sheaf of papers and an obvious check. His look of surprise was obvious as he glanced at the amount on the rectangular slip of paper. "Geez, Giles…, w-we can't take this."**

"**Of course you can. And, I insist that you do. Now, all of it isn't for the house, of course, as you'll find in the papers I've given you with it. There is financial coverage for the repairs to my apartment a-and re-opening the new Magic Box. I have confirmation from the city in my desk that the building is sound, so we won't need to purchase space in a new building, as I had feared."**

"**I'll also need to borrow some of that for Buffybot," Willow shared. "I'll let you know what exactly I'll need."**

"**Anya should be happy," Xan said. "She's been looking forward to coming back. Thank you, Giles. I-I don't know what else to say."**

"**Just don't waste it," the Watcher said with a small grin, "I'm afraid there isn't anymore where that came from. Now, you'll also find the incorporation papers for the business on which I've registered a change: Anya has been given a 40 percent stake in the Box, but practically speaking, I'll be working as the silent partner. Please let her know that I have full and complete confidence in her ability to manage the financial and marketing aspects of the boutique… but, I hope I can depend on all of you to take care of the customer relations," he said drolly.**

"**Back to Buffybot for a moment," Tara interrupted. "Will, we're going to need her as soon as possible to meet with Mrs. Sinclair. The woman isn't going to be put off indefinitely by Buffy being out shopping."**

"**I knew that woman was going to be a pain in the ass," Dawn practically spit. "This is all Ms. Portlynn's fault!"**

"**Dawn, language," Tara said distractedly before turning her attention back to Willow, "She expects Buffy to be spending more time with Dawn. If we can't produce her soon, I don't see how we'll keep her from taking Dawn, the Steins not withstanding."**

"**Like Hell," Dawn said. "I'm not going anywhere. Spike?!"**

"**Don't worry about it, Bit," he said, resting his hand over hers. "I told you, I'll take you on the run if need be. You're staying with at least one of us."**

"**Let's not exacerbate the issue," Giles said with a worried look at the vampire. "Dawn is nearly sixteen," he added thoughtfully. "I believe you should investigate the possibility of having her emancipated. I believe American law permits such."**

"**That would take care of Social Services," Willow confirmed.**

"**Adulthood… cool," Dawn smiled.**

"**I'll look into that on Monday as well… I'm already going to be doing some running around, anyway, so I'll stop by the courthouse and see what they can tell me," Tara added. "So… the store, the agent, the house and Buffybot. Next issue: Joyce's Jeep. It's still sitting at the curb at Giles' and it's going to need some serious work."**

**Everyone noticed Giles looking away guiltily, "Y-yes, I'm afraid I damaged it a bit."**

"**Lightning strike," Tara explained.**

"**Wow. When you turn evil, you really go all the way Giles," Xan joked, only adding to Giles' embarrassment. "Lightning? Was that you… with the storm? 'Cause you caused me to get soaked."**

"**Not totally his fault," Spike smirked. "Hyena's the one that went running off into the night." His expression grew grimmer, "And thanks to those geeks, we're in the state we're in… should have let you gut that Warren-bloke."**

"**What state," Dawn asked, getting the impression from Spike's tone that he wasn't talking about the damaged house.**

"**Nothing, Dawnie," Xan said with a hard glance at Spike.**

**He ignored him. To Dawn he replied, "Xan has decided not to play 'adult games' with me anymore."**

"**Oh."**

"**I haven't decided ****anything****. But you sure aren't helping your chances right now. Things are confused - I don't think a few days is too much to ask," Xan angrily said.**

"**Must the conversation keep turning back to personal relations," Giles moodily asked. "We do have rather urgent concerns to take care of this evening."**

"**You're just saying that 'cause you're relieved we've tanked," Spike told him nastily. "You think we're a mistake - screw you."**

"**It was! It was a mistake for Angel and Buffy and it was a mistake for you and Xander," Giles replied just as nastily back. "You may all choose to overlook that you aren't human, but one of us has to see things in the harsh light of reality!"**

**Dawn, now irritated at what she saw as an unprovoked attack against Spike leaped in to defend him, "Gee, I'm not human either… or not totally… guess I should stop thinking I have a right to be happy, too!"**

**Tara, seeing some of the darkness that Giles still had infecting him quickly intervened to stop the argument from escalating, "Guys! Take a breath. This is between the two of you," she said diplomatically to Spike, "You two need to talk things out, but I agree with Xander - he should have at least a few days to deal with the sudden lack of mind sharing."**

"**Okay, I'm lost. What happened to Hyena," Willow asked.**

"**Oh, sorry baby, I forgot to tell you," Tara squeezed her hand affectionately, "Xan drank that potion I whipped up. And, it appears to have worked."**

"**So, no more psycho," Dawn added. "That's a good thing, right," she asked Spike.**

"**Except for the part where we ain't gettin' naked, anymore."**

"**I really don't want to talk about this with the whole group," Xan said. "Can we move on to the next topic? I'll call a tow for the car and get over to Giles' to check out the damage. Then, sometime next week, I'll get over to the shop and start putting together estimates for that mess… it's a good thing I'm currently unemployed," he joked, trying to dispel lingering tensions, "Or I'd never get all this done. We'll talk about what you want done, as far as the paint and stuff," he added toward Giles.**

"**I-I'm afraid you'll need to take care of those details yourself," he replied, looking away with discomfort. "I-I'm afraid I shan't be here."**

"**What's that mean," Dawn asked suspiciously.**

"**I must return to England," he replied quietly.**

"**But… but Tara did the ritual," Willow told him, confused. "Why are you leaving?"**

"**Okay, my turn to be confused," Xan said. "What ritual?"**

"**Giles' darkness, from that magic he'd used to fight Glory," Tara explained. "It was some pretty intense stuff. I performed a ritual to cleanse him," she looked apologetically at Rupert, but he was steadfastly looking at a far wall of the room. "B-but the stuff he was exposed to… well, it'll take more than I'm capable of."**

"**Oh, you should have said something before," Willow offered. "I would have added my magic to the process… we can just do it again."**

"**It's not that simple," Giles replied, very quietly.**

"**It's not about raw energy," Tara again squeezed Willow's hand. "It's more about finesse."**

"**Well, you've got that covered," the red head smiled. "You handle that part and I handle the power… that's why we're so good together."**

"**I have to go. There's no other way around it," Giles turned his attention to the group from the wall he'd been fascinated with. "A-and since we're talking about this now, I should tell you that I'm… relatively sure… that I probably won't be coming back for quite some time, if at all."**

"**What," Dawn practically yelled, shocked. "You can't leave for good!"**

"**Wait a minute," Xan said, "Giles, what the hell are you talking about? You're not seriously talking about moving back to Jolly Ol' permanently?!"**

"**Well, Buff-bot doesn't need a Watcher," Spike said, earning hard glares from both Xander and Willow.**

"**That isn't why I'm relocating," Giles stated with a trace of bitterness. "I wouldn't leave you all if it was at all avoidable."**

"**Avoidable, schmoidable! You go, you get cured or whatever, you come back," Xan insisted. "It's not that complicated."**

"**Giles, the database is only like half completed… maybe! We need your books and you know them better than anybody," Willow complained.**

"**I can't believe this," Dawn angrily said. She launched herself from her chair and stomped out of the door and onto Xander's veranda with a slam. Through the large multi-paned window, she could be seen pacing.**

"**There's gotta be another way," Wills added.**

"**This isn't up for debate," Giles snapped. Taking a calming breath he added, "I need professional assistance that can only come from the Council."**

"**He has to return to England, at least for magical therapy," Tara explained. "Part of being cleansed effectively is to connect with the mystical energies connected to us by where on Earth we're born. There's a spiritual component that is very important. Even if I had the skill to do a proper cleansing with Willow's help, you can't fake that body/ancestral connection."**

"**And you can't do that without the Council," Xander questioned sarcastically.**

"**No. I can't. I would never be able to return to England and contact the Coven who is skilled enough to do this without their knowledge. And it really is moot, anyway, since I've already spoken to Travers to make arrangements."**

"**I'm gonna see to Dawn," Spike said, leaving the table. "Don't like her being out there at night alone."**

**Spike left Xan and Willow proceeding with their circular arguments on ideas for Giles to do what he needed to do and return, with Giles explaining that the Council wasn't going to allow him to return without some sort of sanction for using dark magic in the first place. The vampire felt himself conflicted: he was just as happy not to have the Watcher's judging gaze on him all the time and this gave them one less connection to the Council baddies which was good. On the other hand, Giles had proven himself useful to the group more than once - Willow was right when she said that no one knew where to look stuff up for quick answers better than Rupes. His loss was going to make things slower and more dangerous, especially when it came to the 'more than just random rampage' stuff.**

**Outside, Dawn looked at him near tears, "Mom, Buffy, Anya and now Giles. Everyone leaves me," she whined. "Even Jan… I tried to talk to her earlier today and her parent's say that they don't want me calling anymore. I mean, just like that, out of the blue! It's because we can't stop weird shit from happening around our house…."**

"**Not everyone is leaving. And Giles and Anya's cutting out on us isn't about you, Bit. And your ma and sis… that wasn't exactly a choice."**

**Dawn threw herself into his arms, holding tightly and weeping on his shoulder. "Spike, this is so hard… all the time. I'm so sick of things being complicated! I'm tired of people having to leave and dealing with problems! When do we just get to be happy for awhile? Can't we just be happy?"**

**Back around the dining table, the gang - even Tara - was responding with stunned silence. Giles had just informed him that his flight out of Sunnydale was the very next afternoon.**

-

End Ch 8


	9. Stressed

**Coming of the Scooby Army**

Ch 9 – Stressed

**Tara put a bowl for Ms. Kitty on the kitchen floor before starting a fresh pot of coffee. It was already on and the pot nearly empty, testifying that Willow had been up especially early… again. It was much too early to be up on a Sunday morning. No doubt, she was in the basement right now working.**

**Throwing two slices of bread in the toaster, she closed her eyes and took a moment's meditation, trying to relieve a bit of the stress she was feeling today. It was going to be a busy one: she needed to pick Dawnie up and run her to the mall, bring her back here to get changed into an outfit she hadn't brought to Rick and Carole's, run her over to Kevin Berman's birthday party, come back here and make sure that Willow was ready, have a late lunch, then run back to Kevin's to grab Dawn to make the run out to the city airport to wish Mr. Giles a good trip, run Dawn back over to Kevin's or wherever and finally come home to drop into an unmoving, exhausted lump.**

**Just thinking about it was wearing her out.**

**Buttering the toast, she quickly ate in-between preparing a travel mug of coffee. Her mind was swirling around Giles' imminent departure. Despite his protestations, she couldn't help feel that they really weren't ready for his absence. And, she was afraid of trying this upcoming ritual regarding Buffy without his guidance and participation. Willow was adamant that he not be told of their plans, but Tara had already decided that when the moment came, he had the right to have his say and to be there when they tried to contact her. Especially if the worst came out to be the truth and they needed to release her from torment… something that she wasn't sure they'd be able to do by themselves, moldy old Urn or not.**

**Pushing these worries from her mind, she tried to focus on today's issues. She put her dish in the sink and rushed out of the kitchen, stopping just long enough to crack the basement door and shout down to Willow's presumed location.**

"**Honey, I'm going! Please, don't forget to get cleaned up before we run to the airport! I'll be back to pick you up around three."**

"**No problem," she heard Willow's voice shout back.**

**As Tara rushed through the living room, the phone rang, stopping her.**

_**I'm coming, Dawn, I'm coming…**_**, she thought as she scooped up the receiver. "Tara speaking…."**

**As it turned out, it wasn't Dawn complaining/asking where she was, but Xander Harris.**

"**Hey, T. Good Morning."**

"**Hi, Xan."**

"**I'm just calling to let you know that I've got a tow truck picking up Joyce's Jeep. We'll talk later about how much it'll cost to fix, and if it's worth it. If lightning hit it though, we need to figure the engine is shot. I thought I'd come by right after the airport and check out the dining room, too, if you guys will be there?"**

"**Oh, sure. I'm going to get you a key, Xan, I just haven't had time with everything going on. But, right now, I gotta rush out to take care of Dawn."**

"**Problems? Anything I need to know?"**

"**No, she'll just die if I don't take her to the mall so she can impress Kevin."**

"**Oh, right, party today. Okay, I'll let you go…."**

**Tara hadn't even had time to put the receiver back in place before it rang again. Blowing a puff of frustrated air, she hit the 'connect' button and answered.**

"**Ah, Ms. Maclay," she frowned at hearing the voice of Golda Sinclair over the line. "I'm hoping to speak to Ms. Summers, please."**

"**Oh, ah, I-I'm sorry, she's not in. She's at the grocery store," Tara fibbed.**

"**My, I'm starting to wonder if she's ****ever**** home taking care of Dawn," the social worker faux laughed, annoying Tara further. "Oh, that's right, she's at the Steins… silly of me. What I was actually calling about is that I'm just swamped with court dates this week, but I want to make sure that Ms. Summers plans a visit from me for Thursday, around four pm. This is incredibly important, and I'd hate for her to be out … shopping… again. Oh, by the way! I haven't received Mr. Smyth's paystub yet, either," she said in a completely faked "it just occurred to me off the top of my head" tone that Tara didn't buy for a moment.**

"**William hasn't worked since we met with you," Tara nearly dripped friendliness, the entire time scowling, "but, he works again tomorrow night, so I'm sure we'll have a fax to you the first thing on Tuesday."**

"**Oh, wonderful… wonderful… well, I guess that's all for now, then. You will make sure that Ms. Summers has my message, of course…?"**

"**Of course. Thank you for calling," Tara said, before jabbing the disconnect button. **

_**She's going to be a pain in the rump,**_** she worried, as she finally made her way out the door.**

------------

**Over at the Steins, Carole and Dawn shared breakfast omelets with orange juice. Dawn was animated and bubbly about seeing Kevin that afternoon.**

"**So I was thinking a cologne set, but that's so lame! I mean, that's like getting underwear for Christmas… what am I gonna do?"**

**Carole laughed lightly, "I'm sure whatever you get for him, he'll love. But, you've mentioned that he's an artist, right?"**

"**Right, he draws really well… and I think he does poetry, too, from what Jan said. He's so deep! You can tell just looking in his eyes that he's thinking, you know, really deep thoughts and stuff. I hope Jan shows up at his house, I really need to talk to her about why I'm not supposed to talk to her anymore. I mean her parents are being impossible. Like it's my fault that Warren and Adam attacked us?!"**

**Carole gave the top of her head an amused and skeptical smile, but didn't burst the girl's bubble about the "deep thoughts" of teen boys. Instead she went on with her idea, "Well, if he's into art, he probably always needs supplies, and that stuff isn't cheap. Why don't you have Tara run you to the art supply store and have them give you some advice? And, if I was somebody hoping to snag a date, I might buy a pair of passes to the movies… you know, as a hint. As for Jan, I wouldn't worry. I'm sure that her parents will come to their senses, eventually. And, you'll always see her in school."**

**The teen burst into a smile. "Ugh. Don't mention that place. One more week… and then I have to go right back. This whole thing has really sucked. But, thanks, Carole. That was a good idea. I just hope that nobody else thinks of the art supplies thing. I will be so embarrassed if I get a duplicate gift. The movie passes thing is a good idea, though."**

**From the living room both girls heard Rick's voice calling out that he'd made it home. It was a bit late for him and he sounded exhausted. But his wife knew that he'd be waiting for her in his study with a cup of fresh coffee and a croissant. Pouring hot water from the coffee maker into a cup with a teabag, she grinned at Dawn.**

"**Excuse me, Sweetheart, but I've got my own man to tend to… good luck with Kevin."**

------------

**Across town from the Steins, Rick's sometime partner and fellow detective, Marsha Gannon sat on her sofa, dazed. She had dark circles surrounding her puffy, dry eyes. The headache that had dogged her was still going on, but it was a distant throbbing now. She'd managed to get dressed and was about to go out for a bagel, but now found herself sitting and fondling her gun again – the six shooter that seemed to be calling out to her.**

_**Yes, yes… finally, **_**the Hellmouth Wisp thought in frustration and excitement and anticipation. She'd been a hard nut to crack, but finally it had worn her down. **_**Don't just fondle the damned thing, use it!**_

**Marsha loosely held the loaded pistol as she half-stumbled to the door of her home. When she exited, she didn't even close the door behind her. The sun was bright and warm and it hurt her eyes enough for them to stop being dry with her stinging tears, but the Wisp wasn't about to let that stop her. She finally managed to make it to her car and start her drive over to Rick's home, the Wisp's driving command to kill Carole Stein suffusing her mind.**

------------

**It wasn't only Tara, Dawn and Marsha who were dealing with the stress of their individual circumstances, either….**

**In Los Angeles, Faith wore a look of confusion as she sat down before the thick Plexiglas separating prisoner and visitor. On the other side of the transparent divide sat an old lady glaring at her with enough malevolence to force her to suppress a shudder. The woman was white haired, which she wore wound up in a bun so tight, it was pulling the skin of her face taut. She had no make up on and no jewelry, but she clutched a dark brown hand bag against her chest as if it were deliberately designed to hold off the Slayer. It appeared to be fake Alligator skin - cheap and slightly tacky. Faith could see she had on a dark pink and cheap looking dress, probably made of mostly polyester. Her brown overcoat was unbuttoned, but Faith could see it was missing one and it looked frayed around the edges at collar and cuffs.**

**She had absolutely no clue who she was, but she didn't seem happy to be there.**

**Faith had picked up her end of the receiver and sat awkwardly with it held to her ear, but the other woman had made no move to pick up her end. She had just continued to sit there glaring and with a small tremor running throughout her body.**

**Just as she was about to end the apparent stalemate and re-hang the phone, the woman lunged at her end of the receiver and picked up. Over the line, the woman's heavy breathing echoed into Faith's ear and she could see the other woman's trembling, bony hand turning white with the pressure of her grip on the device.**

"**So, I finally get to meet the murderous bitch… you don't look so tough," she nearly spat.**

"**Look lady, I don't know who you are, but I'm payin' for my crimes. So, if you just stopped by to insult me, you wasted a trip."**

**There was a moment of uncomfortable silence as the other woman considered her next words; "I'm Margaret. Margaret Sayers," her voice shook, along with her thin frame.**

"**I-I'm sorry. I don't remember you," Faith tried to sound sincerely apologetic. She tried to recall if maybe she'd mugged the old woman or something when she was desperate for cash. There were a ****lot**** of minor crimes that had been ignored after she'd turned herself in, in order to focus on the big time one. She was positive this lady hadn't been at her speedy trial… speedy because she'd confessed and wouldn't allow her court appointed lawyer to argue 'diminished capacity' or to bring up her childhood hardship or basically put on any sort of defense. She hadn't wanted to drag things out with legal-mumbo-jumbo, nor to have what she did be 'mitigated' in an attempt to get her off with less than she felt she deserved. "Whatever I did to you though--," she didn't get to finish her attempted apology.**

"**-Lester Worth was my brother," the old woman choked out, her eyes holding nothing but hurt and contempt and raw hatred.**

"**Professor Worth," Faith whispered as all of the blood drained from her face. His was the murder that she'd confessed to. He was the innocent that she had to pay for. It was for him that she had refused any sort of defense of her actions that could have reduced her sentence. **(1)

"**Don't say his name," the old woman screeched, causing an expression of concern from a nearby guard on her side of the divided room. She gave him a single nod when he warned that she'd be asked to leave if she started yelling again. The old woman turned her attention solidly back on the murderess of her brother, "****Don't**** you say his name," she struggled not to cry. She didn't want this ****animal**** to see her cry.**

**On the other side of the partition, it was Faith who started to tremble now. **

"**I-I-I…," she swallowed a sudden sense of panic down hard, "I am more sorry than you'll ever know," she said to the baleful glare in her direction.**

"**Apology? You have the gall to apologize? You have no idea," the woman animatedly and angrily whispered in an obvious effort not to shout, again. "Lester was… lovely… gentle… so excited about his dry bones and-and the long gone past. My brother, he-he was gentle," Margaret now sobbed. "Gentle. Inoffensive. ****Civilized****. And you took him from me. I hope you rot here… I hope every single day is a day of suffering."**

**Faith tried to speak, but nothing came from her gaping mouth. She didn't know what more she could tell this woman, who'd she had obviously devastated by her actions. She didn't blame her for a second for denying her apology… it sounded lame to her own ears.**

'_**Sorry'? What good is that? How can that help this woman; it doesn't reverse what I did or bring her brother back to her. How many more just like her are out there?**_

**The woman had grabbed a hanky from the interior of her clutched bag and was dabbing at her nose. "I-I used to worry about him so. Being out in god-forsaken countries in some vast desert where anything could have happened. Being alone… he never seemed to have anyone to share his joy with, except me. Who knew that I didn't need to fear some lawless gunmen somewhere, but that I had to be afraid for him in his own apartment! Why him?! Why did you do this to us?!"**

**The guard, Tony –Faith thought his name was, again came over to the distraught woman who'd started yelling again. Placing a hand on her shoulder, he told her that she was causing a ruckus and would have to go now. Faith watched, torn between begging him to allow her to stay so she could explain who she was then, the darkness she'd found herself lost in and how she wasn't that person anymore and wanting this wreck of a woman out of her eyesight. She did more than enough to beat herself up everyday over the things she'd done, without having this living, breathing, grieving reminder rubbing her face in the pain she'd caused. And caused for no real reason: 'cause Buffy was too full of herself and nobody thought Faith was THE Slayer… it had all been so empty and stupid. And there wasn't a damned thing she could do to change the past.**

**Before she could tell the old woman anything though, she'd gotten up and dropped the receiver, leaving it to bang against her chair and dangle over the floor. Faith watched in helpless horror as she was escorted to the door by possibly-Tony The Guard, her frail shoulders jittering up and down as she obviously fought to hold back her growing sobs.**

**Faith watched in hope and dread that the woman would turn back, that they'd make some sort of eye contact and she'd be able to communicate in a look all of the pain and regret that she felt for breaking into this woman's life and leaving it in shambles. But then the female guard, Karin, was tapping her on the shoulder – telling Faith it was time to hang up the now pointless phone receiver and return to her duties in the laundry room. Even as she stood up slowly and replaced the receiver, her sorrowful gaze was locked on the old woman's back, but she never turned around, never gave Faith the chance to express her own remorse and pain….**

------------

End Ch 9

(1) I shouldn't have to remind BTVS fans of who Lester was, but he was the man that Faith stabbed on behalf of the mayor to cover up evidence of the demon he was going to transform into. See any Buffy-site: _Graduation Day, Part I_.


	10. Goodbyes to Dear Friends

**Coming of the Scooby Army**

Ch 10 – Goodbyes to Dear Friends

**Dawn looked through the gathered teens, giving many a smile and a small wave. The music was turned up and many of the others were dancing, or clustered in small groups and talking animatedly. There were maybe twenty in total, which was pretty good.**

**She was looking for Jan, but was disappointed when she didn't see her. Thankfully, she did spot Kim and worked her way through awkwardly flailing limbs in her direction. She was talking to a guy named Gavin, who Kim shared Beginning Calculus with. They were sort of math geniuses.**

"**Dawn," Kim exclaimed, when she spotted her, giving Gavin a pat on the arm before meeting Dawn halfway through the crowd of dancing bodies.**

**After a hug between the two, Dawn immediately brought up Jan, "I don't see her. Isn't she coming?"**

**Kim looked uncomfortable for a moment, not meeting her friend's eyes.**

"**Don't tell me she's not coming," Dawn exclaimed.**

"**I'm not sure," Kim shrugged. "Her parents might not let her."**

"**Why not? What is wrong with them?"**

**Again, Kim looked guiltily away.**

"**Oh, God. Is it 'cause they think I'll be here? They won't even let me call her!"**

"**They're… freaked, I guess. I mean, you have to admit, Dawn, that a lot of weird stuff seems to happen around you."**

"**That ****isn't**** my fault! We didn't do anything wrong!"**

"**Hey," Kim held her hands up, "I didn't say you did. I'm just saying, her parents are, you know, really freaking out about that mess at your house."**

"**That is ****so**** unfair! It-it's… ****blaming the victim****. Her parents are, like, being fascists or something."**

"**Or, at least totalitarians," Kim opined. "But that doesn't change the fact that I don't think they'll allow her to come over. She told me that they threatened her with grounding if they see her with you, too," she said apologetically with a shrug of shoulders. "They're… you know… freaked. Besides, my mom is almost as bad. The only reason I'm here is because they embarrassed me by calling Mrs. Berman and making sure there'd be adults here, 'cause you know, God forbid I should be around boys without a chaperone. I swear she's paranoid I'm going to turn into a huge slut the second a boy gets me alone."**

"**I'm just surprised she didn't send your sister with you."**

"**Oh, she tried! But there was no way that Monique was going to – and I quote – 'Hang around a bunch of noisy teeny-boppers'. She's been trying to act like she's ****so**** much older and more mature than us, lately. I can do with the break from her, she's starting to grate on my nerves with her B.S."**

"**Hey, you made it," Kevin's voice rang out directly behind Dawn. "Uh, not that you had to. I mean, it would have been cool if, you know, you didn't show."**

"**Wow, uh, were we supposed to dress up," Dawn said, noting he was in a suit. Kim was just wearing a T-shirt and jeans and as she quickly looked over the others, she was relieved to see that they hadn't gussied up, either.**

"**No, no, you guys are fine," Kevin said, rolling his eyes. "I'm the only one that had to dress up like King Dork. My parents are trying to kill me," he complained, "Or at least my social life."**

"**You look great," Dawn assured him. "I hope you'll like your gifts. But when you're opening mine, just remember that things have been a little crazy lately, so I didn't get a chance to really, really shop."**

"**You guys didn't even have to buy nothing. Believe me, the ****only**** reason we're doing this whole thing is to humor my mother," he said. Then he brought a beaming smile to Dawn by grabbing her hand and saying, "Let's dance."**

------

**It was later that same day when Rupert Giles stood in the loading terminal and gazed out at the large, tinted window at the tarmac. He was full of reservations and second guessing, but also was fully aware that he was making the right choice – besides he'd already called Quentin Travers. It was a bit late to change his mind, now.**

"**Hey."**

**Giles turned to see Dawn giving him a small wave. Along with her were the rest of the young adults… mustn't keep thinking of them as 'the children'… excepting Spike, who he'd never thought of as a child. Of course, he wasn't young, anyway... past a century, after all.**

**He shook his head to clear his mind's rambling and accepted a bear hug by the youngest of the group. "I-it wasn't necessary for you all to drive out here, like this."**

"**Don't be ridiculous," Xander said with an appalling attempt at a British accent, which he continued inflicting on him even after his grimace at him, "We couldn't just shout a 'tip, tip, cheerio' and be done with it, now could we," he grinned.**

"**We had to give you a sending off, Giles," Tara smiled warmly as she leaned in to hug him. "I wish you'd given us a chance to give you a going away party… or at least a 'dress-up' style dinner. Pizza wasn't exactly my idea of a farewell meal."**

"**N-not that you won't be back," Willow exclaimed. "I mean, you know we'll get ourselves into the kind of trouble that only the official Watcher glare will fix," she smiled and added her own hug.**

**It was about a quarter to four, now and the afternoon sun was still as bright as it nearly always was in Sunnydale… at least when there wasn't dark magic rainstorms involved.**

"**I've only now realized," Giles mustered a smile, "how much I'm going to miss the weather, here."**

**From the loud speakers overhead, a disembodied voice informed them that Sunbelt Airlines' Flight 444, scheduled for Los Angeles at four-twenty pm would begin boarding in ten minutes. All of the gang looked at one another at a loss to express their feelings adequately at this… Giles was leaving. And this time, it wasn't just on a short, fact-finding mission.**

"**I'm really going to miss you, Giles. Thanks for everything," Dawn told him, as she gave him another large hug.**

**Xander was next to step forward, giving a moment's hesitation before shoving his hand out toward the Watcher. **

"**To hell with that," Giles told him, batting his hand away, before embracing him in a tight, one armed hug. "You'll take care? A-and call me if you have any difficulties."**

"**If I did that, I'd have to run to a payphone right now," Xander joked. **

**He returned the boy's smile and told him, "Just do be careful. All of you," his gaze swept over the others. "I-I couldn't bear it if you went and got yourselves hurt right after I've left."**

"**We'll be alright, Giles," Tara smiled sadly. "You just focus on you, right now."**

"**Yes. W-well… you will all threaten Spike for me? The usual speech, I believe, "if he doesn't keep you all safe", "if he doesn't act properly", "if he gets out of line", etc…."**

"**We'll tell him," Xan said. "And, I can kick his butt now, thanks to the chip. But, he'll keep fighting for us – he wouldn't risk pissing Dawnie off."**

"**Damned right," she said back, with a grin.**

"**Is there room for one more in this love-fest," a familiar voice said from nearby.**

**Giles was shocked to find Lavinia Mills standing there, an obvious suitcase on the floor nearby and a rectangle of paper clutched tightly in one hand. "What?"**

**She shrugged with an uncertain grin, "Well, you can't very well be trusted to travel all the way over to England without a chaperone, now can you?"**

**She picked up her bag and continued to walk, until she was standing nearly enough to him to touch. "I mean, you should have someone who cares about you making sure the Council treats you decently, right?"**

**He swallowed hard before replying, "Y-you don't need to do this. What about your job?"**

"**I have holiday time to spend. And, I'm using it right now. I want to, Rupert. I'm not ready to just leave things like this," she said with a wave around the terminal. "I… haven't gotten the chance to give you a real goodbye. And besides, I miss seeing London. And, this will give me a chance to make the short trip home to Latvia before coming back and starting the new school year."**

"**I would be honored to travel with you," he told her. "And, ****thank you****."**

**As the gang once again assured him that they would be fine and he gave last minute advice to Xander about the work he already knew would need to be done to get the damaged store in opening shape, the disembodied voice returned, reporting that Flight 444 was ready for first class passengers to board.**

"**Well. That would be me, I'm afraid," he cleared his throat. With a glance at Lavinia and a small smile, he added, "Us."**

**As he and she went to the gate, the others called out the usual well wishes to a departing loved one and told him they'd speak to him very soon. Though, they didn't know if that was so – no one knew what the Council would do with Giles, once his time in Devon was done.**

"**Can you run me back over to Carole's, Tara," Dawn asked as they left the airport, "I want to freshen up my make-up before going back to Kevin's."**

"**Sure," she replied, with one arm slung around her shoulders. She was once again entertaining the worries she had about Buffy's fate and Willow's magic and the lack of Giles to help.**

-----

End Ch 10


	11. Surprising Encounter

**Coming of the Scooby Army**

Ch 11 - Surprising Encounter

**Carole smiled at the open door of her home as Dawn and Tara came in. The teen was a ball of babbling, excited energy over how well the party was going at Kevin's. Even their friend's/mentor's departure didn't seem capable of dampening her enthusiasm.**

"**You don't have to knock when you come home, Dawnie. I-I mean," Carole stammered a little bit, "Not that this is your permanent home. But, you know what I mean. You're staying here for now, so you don't have to knock. Can I get you something, Tara? Coffee?"**

"**Oh, goodness, no. But thank you; I'm afraid we don't have a lot of time and Willow is sitting in the car waiting."**

**Tara tried to hide the embarrassment she was feeling. Willow, for some reason, didn't want to see Rick. Apparently he'd irritated her with some sort of comment at Giles' in the aftermath of the trouble there, and with her spending so many nights not sleeping, she was apparently holding a grudge.**

**As Dawn dashed up to her temporary room for her makeup, Carole reminded her that her husband was sleeping, so she'd need to be extra quiet for him.**

**Willow glanced from the passenger seat of Tara's Escort out of the windshield and followed a car heading her way. The car caught her attention because of the way it was going so slowly and weaving drunkenly. She could see a woman sitting behind the wheel, crouched uptight against the steering wheel and Wills frowned with some intuition.**

**With a glance at the Steins' house, she muttered for Tara and Dawn to hurry up and then turned her attention back to the weaving car's trajectory. She wondered if she'd be able to ward off something so large and heavy if the woman happened to swerve too closely to their car.**

**She was relieved when the woman made a hard swerve into the driveway of the Stein's and watched as she seemed to struggle to exit the automobile. The woman seemed to be crying from the look on her face and Willow wondered idly who she was to the Steins and what had happened… but not enough to get out of the car to find out.**

**Marsha Gannon exited her car when she'd finally arrived at Rick and Carole's. The bright sunlight was killing her eyes and driving needles of pain into the back of her brain and she couldn't keep them from watering as she struggled to walk the straight line to the door. She hesitated briefly at the cross hung awkwardly on the front door, but the Wisp wasn't about to let some ridiculous symbol get in the way of finishing the violent play it had initiated.**

**The prized possession she had crammed into the holster under her jacket was a bulky weight that caused her adrenaline to surge. She knew why'd she come here, but she couldn't actually believe that she was about to do this.**

_**It's the only way to Rick,**_** the Hellmouth Wisp whispered to her broken mind.**

_**Yes, Rick. This is for Rick and me,**_** she told herself as she used one hand to knock at the door, while the other rested against the Colt.**

--------

**Carole and Tara were chatting in the living room, and waiting for Dawn to finish what apparently was turning into a major reconstruction project upstairs when there came another knock at the front door.**

"**My day for visitors," Carole Stein smiled at her other guest. Tara assumed that it was Willow wanting to know what the hold up was. She'd already told her that she'd planned to spend the day in the basement with the damaged robot.**

**Mrs. Stein opened the door to find Marsha, Rick's fellow detective on the midnight shift standing in an awful state. Her eyes were puffy and red and she had tears falling down her face. Her nose was running freely and she was visibly trembling.**

"**Marsha! My God, what's happened?"**

**Carole rushed forward to usher the distraught woman inside, but as she reached for her, she was shocked by a violent backhand that sent her falling backward into the living room. She could feel immediately that her lip was swelling from the silver ring that Marsha wore and as Carole struggled to understand what had just happened, the other woman was pulling some sort of object from under her coat.**

**Tara in the meanwhile had given a shout of alarm over the unexpected violence. Unexpected, but not completely shocking… these things happened in Sunnydale - though usually not in the middle of the day. As she stood up and rushed toward Carole, she noted that the strange woman had pulled something shiny from her coat and froze as it became clear it was a gun.**

**Pointing the gun at Carole, Marsha said with malice, spitting the snot dripping over her mouth at the woman on the floor, "Rick was mine. He was always mine."**

**She cocked back the hammer on the gun.**

--------

**Willow was looking off into the distance out of the passenger side window of the car, toward the Stein front yard. She was really focused on the latest diagnostics that her laptop was running on the Buffybot at that very moment however, and anxious to get back and check on it. Especially since that nosy Social Worker needed to 'meet Buffy' later in the week. From the direction of the house she heard a loud bang that startled her. Instinctively, for she didn't actually realize what she'd heard, she exited the car and rushed toward the Stein home.**

"**Tara?!"**

--------

**Dawn had finally completed her makeup retouching, which had actually become more of a re-doing and headed down the stairs when she stopped short.**

**On the floor, Carole Stein was staring in shock and escalating horror at a woman who was pointing some sort of pistol in her direction. Tara looked like she was frozen in mid-stride and everything was preternaturally still and quiet for what seemed like an eternity of time, but in actuality couldn't have been more than a few heartbeats.**

**It was so still that the quiet click of the gun hammer seemed as loud as a gunshot by itself.**

**Dawn screamed, breaking the quiet moment.**

--------

**The jarring sound of Dawn's piercing cry seemed to cause the world to snap back into a normal rate of speed. Tara found herself suddenly able to react to the terrorizing events playing out before her. The woman-with-the-gun's attention was caught by the screech from the stairway and she instinctively turned the gun in the teen's direction while on the floor, Carole added her own scream of 'NO' to the sudden cacophony.**

**Tara lashed out with her mind, sending a directed wave of force hurtling toward the insane woman, when she felt her heart nearly stop at the concussive bark of sound and the flash from the muzzle of the weapon. **

**The force hit the woman squarely in the chest and as she fell toward the floor, another shot rang out, sending a sliver of lethal metal wildly into the room. **

**Marsha screamed in agony.**

--------

**Rick heard the commotion, instantly coming alert with the first shot and recognizing immediately, despite jumping up from a dead sleep, what that sound was. Despite what most people thought, a car backfire - for instance - in no way resembled the unique sound of a gun discharging in any but the most superficial. He was already running for the stairs to the first floor, his own service 9mm in hand, when the second shot rang out.**

"**Carole?!" He shouted.**

--------

**Willow was rushing heedlessly through the opened doorway of the Stein's when a second air pounding bang went off, sounding like a gunshot to her.**

**She took the tableau before her in and without any conscious thought or planning, pointed a finger at the odd, upset woman who'd she'd seen exit the car in the driveway.**

**She was holding something that Willow assumed immediately was a gun.**

--------

**Tara threw herself instinctively at Carole Stein lying on the floor with the sound of the second gunshot, crying out for Dawnie at the same moment.**

**Rick rushed down the stairs, unaware of his own vulnerability in a desperate attempt to reach his wife. On the stairs, Dawn lay unmoving, curled into a ball with her arms over her head. The smell of gunpowder residue was strong in the still air and a hideous scream filled the silence in the wake of the gunshots. He didn't know who was crying out, but it was of pain and his heart fell into his stomach.**

**Carole strove to peer around Tara, panicked at where Marsha was and what she was doing with the gun in her hand. In the meanwhile, Tara had her hand up in a defensive gesture, ready to slam the gun-woman with another burst of pure force.**

**But, it wasn't necessary. By the time she'd gotten herself ready to lash out, Marsha was screaming.**

**As she thrashed about, the gun now lying unattended on the carpeting, tendrils of red energy lashed at her body. The tendrils danced through the air and connected the victim to their wielder, Willow. **

**The witch's body was as rigid as a board and her wide eyes were literally glowing with power. Thin strings of energy also danced over her face, down her throat and following a path from shoulder to hand. From the witch, it leapt through space to the demented woman on the floor, who continued to gasp and cry out as she jerked spastically. Willow's face was a rictus of hatred, such that Tara shivered at the sight.**

**Rick lowered the gun in shock, watching in a moment of stunned silence at the display occurring before him. His attention was riveted by the manifestation of other-worldly power.**

"**Willow, stop it! Stop," Tara yelled at her, hauling herself up from Carole's prone figure and rushing to her girlfriend. She grabbed Willow's arm, unconcerned with the pain that immediately shot up her own hand, and lifted it toward the ceiling and away from the woman on the floor.**

**Willow reacted with a hiss of frustration, her teeth gnashing as she looked at Tara with soul-chilling, undiluted anger.**

"**Enough, Will… enough… come back to me."**

**The stream of power, now lashing at the remains of a light fixture above the foot of the stairwell, immediately ceased as Will's eyes stopped glowing. "T-tara?"**

"**Enough, Will. We're okay, now. Enough."**

**Willow grabbed Tara fiercely in a bear hug, huffing air, "Jesus, I thought you'd been shot!"**

--------

**On the staircase, Rick suddenly started breathing again as he saw Carole - obviously unhurt - pick herself up off of the floor. Without looking, he instinctively reached a hand down for Dawn, startling a yelp from her as he went to feel for a pulse at her neck.**

"**Are you hit," he asked her, his attention on Detective Marsha Gannon, lying there on his off-white carpeting, blood and mucous running from her nose. She was moaning pitifully, but didn't appear entirely conscious.**

"**No…, no, I'm fine… Willow! Tara," Dawn yelled as she dashed down the stairs ahead of him. She leaped over the prone form of Marsha and threw her arms around the witches.**

"**Dawnie…," Tara started.**

"… **I'm okay, I'm not hurt," she assured them both.**

"**God. God…," Carole muttered in shock, as she joined her husband gazing down at her attacker in disbelief. She'd met Marsha on more than one occasion and the woman had never acted with any sort of hostility, at all. And she had never mentioned before any sort of interest in Rick, nor given her any reason to think the other detective had had any feelings for her husband beyond the professional.**

"**Carole, thank God you're not hurt. I need you to call 9-1-1, now. Get a unit and an ambulance here," he gently pushed her back, as he used one foot to drag the gun away from Marsha's reach.**

**He knelt down by the unresponsive woman and felt her pulse now, as he had tried to do to Dawn. This time, there were no yelps of alarm. Marsha continued with her soft moaning, but didn't show any signs that she was aware of what was happening around her. Her eyes remained closed and she was now covered in heavy perspiration.**

**He looked at the three girls huddled together at the front door, while he could hear his wife giving their address to the dispatch operator. "I-I don't know how you did what you did, but ****thank you****," he said with a trembling voice. He was as white as a sheet, now that the adrenaline rush that had propelled him to the stairs was fading. He was shaking, dressed only in his light blue boxer shorts.**

**Willow wordlessly nodded her head at him, then buried her face into Tara's shoulder.**

**Rick, being an experienced police officer, pushed his personal feelings over Marsha having gone bonkers and noted that this was more weird timing, a coincidence that struck him as wrong in a very 'Sunnydale' specific manner. Marsha had been on scene before him when Julie Marcom had killed old Mrs. Milner. She'd killed the boarding house owner after witnessing the aftermath of the murder-suicide of the emergency medical technician, Ryan and his wife, Trish. Again, he wondered just what Ryan had been doing before his sudden desire to murder his wife. So far, just weird, and not nearly conclusive that there was something going on beyond what he was seeing. But, ****if**** there was something odd going on, it had started with Ryan. Again, he wondered what exactly the paramedic and his wife had been doing in the day or so before his meltdown. This time, however, he was going to do some investigating - starting with Ryan Crests' work schedule that day.** _(1)_

**His reverie was interrupted by the sounds of multiple sirens warbling to a stop in front of his house and Carole's arms wrapping tightly him from behind.**

--------

End Ch 11

_(1)_ Detective Stein began to get suspicious in The Cost of Giles (Ch. 20, _Fistfight)._


	12. Monster Hunters

Coming of the Scooby Army

**Ch 12 - Monster Hunters**

**In the aftermath of the tragedy at the Steins', it was decided that Dawn would stay for the night at Giles' apartment. There was damage there, of course, but it wasn't as extensive as at her own home and Giles' lease didn't expire until December. The Scoobies had decided that the Steins needed an evening alone to just be with each other after coming so close to losing one another. There was no explanation for Detective Gannon's behavior and she remained sedated at Sunnydale General under guard.**

**Dawn had called and spoken to Kevin Berman to explain why she wasn't able to come back following the trip to the airport to see her friend off. He had been sympathetic and after his party finally wrapped up, had dropped by unexpectedly at Giles'. The two of them, along with Kim and another girl, Raye Cassidy, were playing cards and watching a teen comedy. Tara was playing housemother, popping corn and whipping up a batch of brownies while trying not to hover over the kids. Willow had been there as well, but hadn't stayed long. Taking Tara's car, she'd gone back to the Summers' to work on the robot.**

**Informing Xander about what had happened had caused some consternation for him. He'd assumed that at least as long as Dawn was with the detective's family, she'd be safe. It just caused him to wonder how he was going to convince Spike that it wasn't necessary to follow her when she left Sunnydale to spend time with Cordy.**

**Spike, upon waking, was told the bare minimum about what had happened that day, everyone glossing over Dawn's immediate danger. It didn't stop him from throwing a fit about her needing more 24-hour type of protection… a supernatural bodyguard who didn't have to sleep most of the day away, useless.**

**At the moment, he and Xander were on a patrol in the Buffybot's stead, though because Spike was worried about him as well, he'd insisted that they leave the usual hotspots of the cemeteries alone. He would patrol them later by himself.**

"**Spike, I'm not helpless," Xander had objected, but it hadn't swayed the stubborn vampire. Spike was worried that they didn't know the complete effects, yet, of his drinking Tara's potion to dispel the Hyena animal-spirit from his system.**

**There was also a lingering undercurrent of tension between the two, as neither knew how to go about bringing up the change in their relationship or what they were going to do about it. Spike didn't bring it up because he was trying to convince Xan (and probably himself) that it wasn't a big deal either way, while Xan just didn't know what to say.**

**Now they were in the middle of downtown and headed in the general direction of the eastside warehouse district, where Riley had once lived. There were usually vampires stalking those darker alleyways or trying to establish nests in the abandoned buildings.**

"**I'm starting to think that these attacks in Dawn's vicinity aren't exactly random," Spike said thoughtfully.**

"**What do you mean? She doesn't get into any more danger than the rest of us."**

"**I'm not so sure."**

"**Well, with the Glory matter settled and the Knights seemingly wiped out, who else would be after her? Besides, the attacks haven't seemed very related… Warren was more after Buffy and this psycho at Rick's was after his wife."**

"**I'm not saying that they're specifically targeting the Bit, just that circumstances seem to be putting her in the middle of the danger repeatedly. Like, she's attracting trouble."**

"**Like a curse? You think maybe somebody is hexing her?"**

**Spike shook his head, "Not specifically."**

"**I'm not sure what you're getting at, Baby," Xander said automatically. He quickly met Spike's surprised expression and quickly looked away again. "Sorry. That slipped in there on accident."**

"**Sure. I meant that Dawn's whole existence is kind of a freak-of-circumstance. She's literally supposed to be a ball of energy locked away from the world. Instead, she's been given a mind, a body and a life… not that I'm complainin' about it. I'm just saying, she might be attracting a… warp… or something. It'd help if we could come up with some more info on her. Seems like our research about 'The Key' sort of petered out after ****that night****. Maybe, we shouldn't have given up on it so soon. Honey," he added awkwardly, with a glance in Xander's direction.**

**Xan gave him a sly glance in return. "Vampires can't pull off 'Honey-talk'. What say we speed this up a bit, go back to my apartment for a few beers and a bad movie?"**

"**Just hang out a bit? Don't know if I can be that close to you, that long alone, and not try something."**

**Xan sighed, clearly frustrated now, "I'm sorry, Spike. I know this is hard for you. It is for me, too. It'd be easier if I could just decide in my own head what I want. Either the guy sex is good for me, or I'm a straight flyer again… but I just don't know."**

"**So, get me naked and find out whether you get sick or horny…."**

"**Beers and a movie is the best I can do right now."**

"**I'll take it," Spike shrugged.**

----

_Flashback to earlier that day…._

**The Hellmouth Wisp was bitterly angered by Its lack of any bloodshed at the Stein house. It had had to spend a lot of emotional energy to get the stupid bitch It had possessed to ready herself for murder in the first place, and the conclusion of the theatre in that house had been extremely unsatisfying. **

**As It lost Its purchase in Marsha Gannon's mind with the conclusion of her burst of violence, despite it having no effect on those around her, It was seething with petulant rage. It glared at the red headed witch as she immobilized his plaything before It could even induce her to shoot herself, which would have at least tempered Its feelings of failure. **

**Drifting immaterially and unnoticed above those gathered below it, It focused on trying to let go of the disappointment and focus on Its new opportunities. Taking possession of one of the witches in the room would have been ideal, but not possible. It had made that mistake before long ago, which is how It had ended up behind the Hellmouth gate in the first place. Unfortunately, witches seemed to have a natural resistance to Its manipulation.**

**The irony of Rick or Carole did not escape Its notice. To have their deaths be the driving force behind Marsha, only to now have one of them be the murderer was delicious. But, the teen girl in the room had Its attention in a way that could not be resisted. There was something about her It could not define, but also couldn't deny. Like a siren song, It felt itself pulled toward her as she hugged the two magic casters in the room.**

**Like a moth to a flame, if that moth were self-aware of what it was doing getting so close to the fire, It couldn't seem to stop itself from entering her, even though an alarm was buzzing in Its mind that this was going to be a horrible mistake.**

**Green energy surrounded It, filling It with delight and wonder. Drifting deeper through her, It began to realize that this wasn't human, though what exactly It had found itself interacting with, the Wisp didn't know.**

**The sense of mystery and delight quickly gave way to a sense of worry, however. The Energy was now penetrating It, in a way that shouldn't happen. It struggled to back away from the matrix that was calling It forward, but like in a spider's silk, it was held.**

**Panicked now, the demon struggled and raged against the pull of the energy matrix binding with It, but could not exit from the 'girl'. The Energy bore ever deeper through the layers that made up Its form. Screaming now in denial, It found itself merging uncontrollably and inexorably with this new strange energy form and worse, It was coming out on the dominated end….**

_End of flashback_

----

**Spike led the way through a hole into a dark interior of a non-descript warehouse. Because they had wandered through downtown, Xan wasn't armed with his usual axe, but instead a simple dagger and a few wood stakes. It didn't make the vampire happy that he refused to remain outside the building, until he could figure out the situation. His predator's instinct told him that there was something close by.**

**He stopped short, putting a hand out to stop the human, as well. Xander's eyesight in the darkness was back to normal without his spirit and Spike could tell by his heart rate that he was having trouble with fear. His stumbling footfalls also told the vampire that he couldn't see what the hell he was doing - another good reason for the stubborn man to have remained outside.**

"**What," Xan whispered very close to his ear, giving him an unintended thrill down his spine. **

**He was standing so close, and the scent of his adrenaline-spiked perspiration was enough to force Spike to get hard. He forcefully pushed the X-rated thoughts of what he and Xander could be doing right now instead of this away and listened. A few rooms away, there was definite activity… **

"**Fight going on," he replied in a low voice. "There's at least two attackers, humans?! And, I don't know… maybe a dozen bloodsuckers."**

"**Then let's go," Xan called out as he rushed past the vampire, eliciting some swearing.**

**Spike hadn't liked how Buffy's whole crew always seemed to want to throw themselves into the lion's mouth, even before they'd lost her. Now, especially with Dawn and Xander, he was often frustrated in his attempts to hold them back and keep them safe. It was enough to piss him off. **_**Should have just insisted that I could patrol on my own, damn it.**_

**Xander kicked open a door, before being shoved aside by Spike so he could cross into the room first. He exclaimed an angry word at the vampire, but followed him close on his heels, dagger already exchanged for the more helpful stake.**

**Within was a skinny guy and a young looking girl already fighting with the demons. He was wielding a sword, clumsily hacking and slashing at those nearest him. She had a vampire on the ground and was plunging a wood stake into its chest in rapid succession. Though she was certainly getting success in causing a lot of pained swearing and roaring from the demon under her, she seemed to be having problems with penetrating its heart.**

**The room was lit by a harsh, white light from a small, battery powered lantern dropped to the floor. Xander recognized it as a camper's lantern - he'd used one himself several times while sleeping outside to avoid the annual Christmas Drunk-N-Fightapalooza of his parents.**

"**Help the girl," Spike exclaimed to Xan as he threw himself at two more demons threatening to overwhelm the man, driving them to the ground under his momentum.**

**The vampire in the meanwhile, had managed to roll over on top of the girl and she was struggling to hold its face away from the side of her throat. Xander shoved his stake expertly between its ribs from behind and then withdrew and spun to meet a vampire woman as it ashed behind him. A quick rabbit-punch knocked the vamp-girl to the side enough to avoid her lunge.**

----

**In the basement of Dawn's house, Willow sighed with frustration at the results of her scan of Buffybot. There was damage to its motor control functions from some sort of blows to its chest and there was more wiring that needed replacing in its abdomen than she had hoped.**

**Her neck had also been damaged, so that when she'd tried to straighten out her head after dragging her to lie flat on the concrete floor in front of the washer and dryer, the plastic tubing that gave her flexibility tore through her fake skin covering. She wasn't able to get her face to stare straight up at the ceiling.**

**The only good thing was that, though time and money consuming, there didn't seem to be anything that she couldn't repair. It was just a matter of doing it quickly enough to be ready for Mrs. Sinclair.**

"**You and I are going to be spending a lot of time together on your blow-avoidance programming," she sighed at the robot. "But first… coffee…."**

----

**In the warehouse, Spike was able to stake three vampires in quick succession while Xander was occupied standing side by side with the mystery girl and holding off two more of the fang-crew. The sword guy was swinging it around inexpertly, threatening to cut his own leg off if he wasn't more careful. Through luck, he'd managed to behead two more and another was lying on the ground with a grievous throat wound, though whether it would be fatal in the long run wasn't clear.**

**Xan figured it didn't matter, as its blood loss had it weakly crawling toward the exit and he'd easily be able to pick it off later. Assuming the idiot spastically dancing around the room didn't accidentally cut of his head, too, while he was at it.**

**Spike took a quick glance to make sure Xan didn't need immediate saving and took a blow to the side of the face, knocking him across the room.**

_**That happens every damned time,**_** he complained to the universe.**

**The vampire who'd apparently hit him, rushed up behind him, but Spike sensed his approach. With a quick backward jab, he impaled the other demon instinctively and heard the instant grunt of pain and the sounds of a dusting. His demonic senses immediately confirmed that he'd struck true and his attacker was gone.**

**Two more of the vampires rushed past him with hisses and roars and out into the night. They didn't bother to avoid trampling on their fallen and bleeding comrade.**

"**Stop 'em," the guy with the sword yelled as another vampire lost his head.**

**Instead, Spike made a several foot leap, landing behind the vampires menacing Xan and grabbing one of them. Yanking it away, he began beating at the back of her head.**

**Xander took advantage of the distraction of the other vampire and with a yell, threw himself at him. They were knocked to the floor with the girl trying to help by pinning the demon's legs.**

**As he struggled to lean against the vampire's resisting arms with enough leverage to force the stake through its chest, he heard the girl give a shout of indignant pain. The guy yelled the name 'Donna' and rushed by him, but didn't bother to help him out.**

_**Beheading this guy would've been nice!**_

**From across the room, the sound of a dusting was heard and then Spike was on his back, adding his weight. The vampire grunted with effort, but it was too much and momentum carried the stake right where it needed to go.**

**With a roar and explosion of dust, Xander fell forward onto the concrete of the floor, Spike's solid weight baring down on him. From the side there was another roar and when he turned his head slightly, he saw the sword guy kneeling there huffing and puffing.**

**Spike got up off of him and helped him to his feet, "That was fun."**

"**Yeah. A blast," he returned sardonically. A glance showed his knuckles swelling up where they'd impacted the vampire's jaw. "And, ow."**

**Donna and Sword-guy embraced and then turned to the newcomers in their midst, while Spike and Xander stared back at them. The three humans were huffing for air, while Spike of course just wished for a cigarette.**

"**Who the hell are you guys," the young man asked.**

"**I was thinkin' the same thing," Xan returned.**

----

End Ch 12


	13. Strangers

**The Coming of the Scooby Army**

Ch 13 - Strangers

**The four people looked one another over, puzzled, in the weak light of an electric camping lantern that had been clumsily dropped by the door.**

"**You okay, there. You've got a bruise forming," Xander nodded at the girl, Donna.**

"**Oh, yeah… I mean this isn't the first time I've come away with a black eye," she grinned.**

"**What the hell are your deals," the skinny guy demanded sullenly.**

"**Keith…," Donna said in a warning tone.**

"**He's a white hat," Spike nearly snarled, not liking the stranger's attitude. "And, I'm a noble soul on a march of redemption for being a bad, bad man," he added with sarcasm dripping.**

"**We saved your asses," Xan pointed out. "I think we can agree we're all on the right side."**

"**We didn't need saving," Keith said indignantly.**

**Xander was going to point out that they were outnumbered when he and Spike had rushed in, but Spike - obviously - had taken an immediate dislike to 'Keith' and wasn't afraid of showing it.**

"**You're lucky we bothered intervening," the vampire sneered. "With the clumsy way you handle a blade, you're damned lucky you didn't hack off your ****own**** head!"**

"**Spike…," Xan said, with an impatient tone. If there were others out there on vamp-patrol, he wanted to know who they were and where they had come from.**

"**I've been doing this for six months! There's nuthin' wrong with my swordplay," Keith complained, raising the blade and shaking it in the pale guy's direction.**

"**Keith, stop" Donna sighed. "Thanks for the assist," she directed at Xander.**

"**Yeah… well… helping out the citizens is our unofficial job," he grinned. "Which leads to the question, just how come we had to help out two people attacking a vamp nest? We don't usually run into others."**

"**There's not much to tell. I don't like vampires," Donna shrugged. "Keith's parents were on the not-lucky end of a pair. We followed. They came here."**

"**And we didn't need your help," Keith interjected, angry. "There's two more that ****you guys**** allowed to rabbit. We need to get after them."**

"**Back off, Scarecrow," Spike took a step in front of Xander. The guy was obviously riding on adrenaline, and he was still clumsily swinging the sword around to emphasize his words. "We'll handle it."**

**Xander rolled his eyes and stepped around Spike, coincidentally meeting Donna's gaze. She gave him a sympathetic and amused look that made it clear that she had 'one of those' to deal with, too.**

"**Chill, Spike," Xan said. To Keith he added diplomatically, "And, this doesn't need to be a pissing contest. You just sort of wandered onto our 'territory', but we're happy to help you out in finding these things, since it's personal."**

"**You can help by getting out of the way," he said as he stormed past them. "Come on, Donna…."**

"**Sorry," she shrugged, embarrassed. "But, we'll be okay."**

**After they'd left the room, with keep angrily grabbing the lantern, and could be heard heading toward the same direction that Xan and Spike had come in, the human turned to the vampire, "What do you think?"**

"**That he's a bad-ass wanna-be and she's the 'stupid girlfriend' trying to support the idiocy of her suicidal boyfriend…."**

"… **no, tell me what you ****really**** think," Xander deadpanned, as he headed out behind them.**

"**We'll be lucky if we aren't staking them. Or reading about them in the morning paper."**

"**Then we should track them and make sure they make it out of Sunnydale alive, I guess."**

"**Movie night would be more fun," Spike said petulantly.**

"**Save first, beer after…."**

----

**At Rick and Carole's they were sitting, she half in his lap, on the living room sofa. The room was lit only with candles and they both had large glasses of red wine. On the stereo played Barry White, the volume down low. Carole sighed comfortably into the arms of her husband, with a warm glance up into his face… which was staring off into space.**

"**Hey… romantic candles, music, wine, and a horny wife. Where are you at instead," she asked with a small smile. "With Marsha? Should I be concerned," she asked teasingly.**

"**Oh, sorry. I guess I was drifting a bit. I-I am ****so**** relieved you weren't hurt, Baby. I-I don't know what I'd do if…."**

**Carole sidled up closer to him and laid a passionate kiss on him, before taking another sip of her wine. "I'm fine. We're fine. Let's not think about what could have happened and just be happy that it didn't."**

"**Yeah," he lovingly smiled at her, before returning an ardent kiss of his own. In the back of his mind, however, he ****was**** thinking about Detective Gannon… and the string of sudden murders that her attempt ****just had**** to be tied to.**

----

**At Dawn's house, a knock at the only door not currently boarded up interrupted Willow's mystical surfing of chat rooms, looking for the Urn that she had been seeking since Buffy's leap from Glory's tower. Puzzled and annoyed, her mood quickly turned darker when she saw the clear outline of a red-headed, slightly portly woman through the window.**

"**It's a bit late," Willow said coldly, glancing at the kitchen clock. It was going on ten.**

"**Yes, I'm sorry," Mrs. Sinclair responded, while pushing past Willow. "I've just been made aware of the awful occurrences at Detective Stein's! That poor girl… only just finding some semblance of security and now this…! Well, I just knew that she must be traumatized! I rushed over here to bundle her up for my house… she needs an environment where there isn't so much… excitement… do you have her here?"**

**The words had rushed out at such a rate, that Willow was afraid the woman was going to start hyperventilating. It almost made her feel something like concern for her… almost, except the social worker was glancing around the relatively undamaged kitchen as if she were looking into the inner workings of their local garbage dump. Instead of sympathy, all Golda's attitude was engendering was a sense of irritation… again.**

"**Dawnie… Dawnie, it's Golda, please come in the kitchen," the social worker called out loudly. **

**She hadn't even confirmed that Dawn was actually there. Added to the way she'd barged in and Willow's general emotional place these days and it wasn't surprising that Willow felt herself thinking some very unkind thoughts in the woman's direction.**

"**We didn't bring Dawn back here," she said with a deliberate, slow diction. "We ****do**** know that the house isn't the proper place for her without the repairs," she glared.**

"**So, it's off to another 'just like family friends' then? I'm very concerned Ms. Rosenberg. Very concerned. I've barely gotten the case assigned to me and now I have two acts of violence in her vicinity, a sister who never seems to be in the same place she is, a strange man who seems, well, over sexualized for being around such a young girl," she cleared her throat uncomfortably. "And now she is being shuttled between friends of the family. I don't suppose these new people, who I will need to speak to for my reports, by the way, have known last names?"**

"**We live in Sunnydale," Willow continued to glare, her arms crossed over her chest in a universal sign of hostility. "We have violent crime. It was only a matter of time before it was her turn… take a survey of the high school, how many of Dawn's peers have had somebody killed or vanished without explanation! Dawn has been through a lot in the last few months, no doubt about it, but we're dealing… and so is she. Your overwrought sense of drama isn't going to help!"**

**Golda Sinclair's mouth made a few false attempts to form words before finally assuming a grim, hard line. With an exaggeratedly deep breath, she said, "I believe that I am seeing a less than serious effort in cooperation from this household, Ms. Rosenberg. I believe that the concern here is Dawn's welfare - her physical welfare, her emotional welfare, her financial welfare and her psychological welfare…."**

"… **what, no spiritual welfare concern," Willow spitefully added.**

"**I-I don't think your obvious opinion of my role here is relevant," she said haughtily. "I'll be talking to the sister about this generally unhelpful attitude surrounding Dawn."**

**Turning on her heel, she marched out of the back door clearly angry and resentful. She wasn't the only one. Willow also seethed at the other woman. She was a pain in the ass that distracted attention from the one or two things that had to have priority right now: Getting Buffy back to the land of the living, and keeping the Hellmouth from imploding in the meanwhile.**

"**Dawn is a mystical ball of ass-kicking, world-portal opening energy and she doesn't need some low-wage busybody making things complicated where they don't need complicating," Willow said in a stage whisper long after the woman was gone from her eyesight. "Let's just see what the spell books have to say about dealing with difficult meddlers…."**

**----**

**End Ch 13**


	14. Donna, Keith and Sunnydale

**The Coming of the Scooby Army**

Ch 14 - Donna, Keith and Sunnydale

Xander and Spike wandered through one of the darkened parks that were usually pretty empty at this time of night. Being in the 'rough part of town', it wasn't exactly a welcoming environment in the daytime, let alone when the vampires were out. Ahead of them, somewhere, were the two strangers that Xander wanted to keep from getting killed. He couldn't see shit and again felt a pang for Hyena's presence.

"I can't see crap," he complained in a whisper.

"I got 'em. No bad guys so far in their path," Spike returned in an almost normal volume. "And we're not close enough to have to whisper."

"Too far? If they get tackled…?"

"I can move fast enough. I still don't see why we should be trying to watch out for their ungrateful asses. Stupid people deserve to get culled from the herd before they have a chance to breed."

"Spike, jeezus!"

The vampire smirked for a split second. It was gone almost before it was made, but Xan saw it and could tell he was just being outrageous for the hell of it.

"Vampires…," he muttered under his breath.

"… have more than good enough hearing that muttering might as well be shouting."

"Yeah, yeah. Any signs of the two that got away? Are they even on the right track?"

"I don't sense anything. There are too many impressions in the grass from during the day to tell… probably not, though. Neither Barbie or Ken strike me as trackers."

"I think we're headed toward the motor lodge. Maybe they'll bed down for the night," Xan said, recalling that Faith had stayed there before she threw in with the Mayor.

"At least somebody gets to…," Spike didn't bother with muttering.

* * *

At ten thirty, Tara and Dawn were in her car with Kevin, Kim and Raye. The others had told her not to bother, but naturally the witch wasn't about to let them wander out at night on their own.

"So, Dawn… movie next weekend?"

Tara gave a sly grin and a glance at the girl sitting in the passenger seat. Dawn had been acting nervous all night, while trying to pretend it was a casual thing.

"I-I can't. I mean I want to! Any other time," she apologized to the boy. "It's just I have this thing next weekend… my aunt in L.A. is taking me to this spa."

"Oh, I bet that's gonna be so fun," Raye said. "I wish we could afford stuff like that, but mom bitches… uh, I mean - she complains - when I spend too much on conditioner."

"It's a good thing she isn't raising Monique then," Kim laughed. "She'd have had a nervous break down by now!"

"Well, maybe the weekend after," Kevin returned to Dawn.

"Yeah. Sounds like fun."

-----------------

Somewhere over the Atlantic, Giles glanced down at the sleeping Lavinia and wondered if he was doing the right thing. Not that it mattered what he thought at this late date. Quentin would be there waiting for him to touch down, and not showing up would only create… complications… for the others.

Still, he worried. There had been Watchers before he who had crossed the Council, of course. In every group there would be bad apples, though he never thought he'd be one of them. But, he couldn't recall the fates of the others to give him a clue as to what to expect. There had been Emily back in '71, who had used a Pygorean Fetish to force a fellow Watcher to fall in love with her. As far as he knew, she'd only been excommunicated.

There was the Post woman, who'd caused problems for he and Buffy, and she had also only been kicked out. Surely her abuse of magic had been worse and more pre-meditated than his. But, he also recalled rumors of someone named Michael Westing and there was another by the name of Charles Winthrop-Earl. Both men's fates were unknown, but rumor had it they'd been banished not only from the Council and its records, but from the whole dimension as well for their abuses of power.

_But surely the others presiding over my hearing will understand why I did what I did and show leniency…_, he thought as he closed his eyes and tried to push the matter from his mind.

* * *

"Those jerks blew it," Keith bitterly complained.

"C'mon, Hon. It wasn't their fault, exactly. How many couples do you think are out hunting vampires, instead of being the nabbed victims?"

"They'll have time now to recruit more! We could have wiped out the nest and gotten back to our lives."

Donna sighed. The truth was, they didn't have much of a life before Keith's vengeance quest thing, anyway.

_Struggling to buy groceries and pay the utilities, putting up with her boss' crap, long hours for little pay and no one to really appreciate it… no thanks,_ she thought. She wasn't looking forward to the time when her fiancé decided that his revenge had been served. There was something so much… simpler… with just living night to night. Sure there was the money struggles, still, but at least this way they were always doing new, odd jobs and they were really making the world a better place.

"Hey," he said, "I asked what you wanted for dinner?"

"Oh! Sorry, my mind was wandering."

"That isn't safe, you know that!"

"I have you here to protect me," she smiled. "You wouldn't let me get ambushed."

He smiled back at her, then grabbed her arm so he could stop her walking. He gave her a deep, passion-filled kiss.

"You really are great. About this whole thing."

She'd heard this same compliment a lot since she'd given up 'everything' to follow him. He really didn't get how much she liked this new life.

"Show your appreciation with pizza," she laughed.

Two blocks away, Spike rolled his eyes… _Idiots_.

* * *

At the Espresso Pump, Jon stared off from behind the counter. The crowd was moderate, but currently no one was looking for coffees or muffins. He nervously scanned through the windows, looking for either Warren or one of Buffy's gang. He was sure that one or the other would be looking him up - Buffy, when she got back into town and found out what had happened to her house, Warren to give him a fat lip for taking off in the middle of a fight.

"Jon," his supervisor snapped. "Where the hell is your head tonight? I asked you ten minutes ago to sweep the floor around table six!"

"Oh, right. Sorry," he said, scampering for the broom. He wondered where Andrew was as he hadn't been answering his phone, even though Jonathon had begged him to call him back.

_God, my life sucks_, he thought as he swept. _C'mon Andy… just let me know you're alright and then you can ignore me after that._

* * *

Warren looked at the voodoo fetish symbols doubtfully. He and Andrew were wearing matching ones made of twigs around their necks and they were scratchy and prickly. Allegedly, they were supposed to ward off locator spells and cost them a lot of the money that they'd been planning on spending on food. He had the sneaking suspicion they'd been ripped off, but it was a chance that they had to take. The car they had hotwired with a bit of magic was a clunker… the better to not draw too much attention. They were currently on a highway through the desert and were surrounded by wide stretches of sand and scrub grass in all directions.

In the passenger seat, Andy sighed annoyingly, which he kept doing every twenty minutes or so.

"My parents are going to flip," he complained.

He'd also been mentioning that at least once an hour.

"They'd flip more if you got magicked into a rat, or a hell dimension, or whatever Willow the Wonder Wench would do with us. Besides, you can always send 'em a postcard, as long as you don't reveal exactly where we're at."

"I wish you'd let me call Jon when we reach Nevada."

"Don't start that again," Warren warned. "I said 'no' and I mean it. Short-round is dead to me."

"I just want to make sure he wasn't hurt," Andy whined.

"I'm running this operation," Warren glared at his companion. "You just do what I tell you and this will work out fine…."

"This blows," Andrew muttered.

* * *

End Ch 14


	15. In for the Night

**The Coming of the Scooby Army**

Ch 15 - In For the Night

**Xander stood across the parking lot behind a large utility van, while Spike stood just outside of the room that they'd watched their two vampire hunters enter. Within, the vampire could hear another, new voice, this one female.**

"**Hey, Tangina, we're getting pizza - what you want on yours," he heard Keith ask.**

"**The usual."**

"**Do you ever want anything other than pepperoni?"**

"**I want the usual," Spike heard 'Tangina' reply with humor. "How'd it go?"**

"**We were holding our own," Donna replied, but was interrupted by the Alpha-Dork.**

"**We were! Then, we had some clumsy party crashers and two of the gang got away. You'll need to hop back on the Quija board later and give me another location."**

"**You know how my contact gets when I bother him with more than one question a night," Tangina complained.**

**The psychic's real name was not Tangina. She was a twenty-three year old high school dropout named Melanie Darns from Oakland, California. She just thought that 'Tangina' made her sound more mysterious and 'psychical'.**

**Her entire persona wasn't completely phony, however, as she really did have a spirit she could connect with using the famous witch-board. She called him Sam, but she didn't really know who he was or why he'd chosen her to communicate with, she only knew that he'd led her to a young man seeking justice and had insisted that she had to join in his quest. She'd been helping track down the steadily increasing in number vampire gang since then. It had been months - and she was getting tired of the motel jumping and missed her real life, one in which she used to work as a part-time vet assistant (well, actually a dog washer and feeder in the vet's clinic). And, God, she was even getting sick of pizza, which was truly signs of a universe out of whack.**

**Outside of the motel room, Spike waited for any more information he could gather until he got too bored… about ten minutes. Then, he returned to Xander and demanded the beer he'd been promised.**

"**You sure they're in for the night?"**

"**Would I lie?"**

"**Uh, vampire? Beer waiting? I'd say the odds are good," Xan deadpanned.**

"**Trust me," Spike returned with the most untrustworthy looking smirk he could muster.**

* * *

**Home alone, Willow scoured the internet chat rooms of some of the less discriminating witch sites looking for a spell that would solve their Social Worker problem for as long as it took to get Dawn liberated, without crossing the line. She considered briefly turning her into a rat using Amy's spell, but she didn't want anything that permanent and so far, she'd been unable to find the right counter spell to save the other witch from her squeaky wheel, so had thus far rejected the idea. **

**Thus far.**

* * *

**Wiping down a table, Jon worried at his bottom lip. He was driving himself to a nervous breakdown, he knew, and realized what he needed to do. **

**He was going to have to turn himself over to the Scooby Gang, explain what had happened that night and what Warren's goal had been, apologize profusely and just hope that he caught Willow in a forgiving mood. It was hard to believe that they hadn't come for him already. It wasn't like there were a lot of places to hide… especially when he wasn't really doing much to stay out of sight. He was convinced that they must have him under mystic or vampiric surveillance, hoping he'd lead them to his two compatriots.**

_**Fat chance of that happening… wonder where they are….**_

**Checking his mood-ring like stone worn on a gaudy bracelet around his wrist, he looked for any changes that would show him that magic was being directed at him, but it remained the same Robin-egg blue it had been. He was almost convinced that it wasn't working right, and yet he couldn't bring himself to take it off, either.**

_**I'm definitely going to drive myself batty, **_**he thought.**

* * *

"**Oh my God," the teen exclaimed after they'd dropped off Kevin at his house. He was the last of the friends to be taken home. "I can't believe Kevin Berman has asked me out!"**

"**I thought that was the whole idea of giving him movie passes," Tara said, amused.**

"**And it worked!" Dawn squealed with laughter. "I have to buy new clothes! I need something tight and clingy… something black that'll be slimming."**

"**Dawn, you're already slim. If you buy something slimming, you're going to look bony," Tara joked, which Dawn didn't catch onto….**

"**Oh, you're right! I can't look all boney! God, what was I thinking?! I'll have to talk to Cordelia, she's like totally fashion-conscious. I wonder if I need new makeup - I'll have to ask her. Me and Kevin have a date… hah!"**

**Tara laughed, as she directed the car back to Giles'.**

* * *

"**It's been awhile," Spike said on entering Xander's apartment. "In honor of it, how about subjecting me to a quality movie… just for a change of pace. Let me get myself broken back in and whatnot."**

"**Quality? Not my usual fair, but I'll see what I've got in the videotapes."**

"**Maybe something porn related?"**

"**How about something blood related," Xander returned. "Killer shark?"**

"**Jaws? That flick kept me out of the ocean for weeks. Damn Spielberg."**

"**You're kidding. ****You**** were afraid of giant sharks?"**

"**Hey, sharks aren't just killers, you know. They'll eat dead things, too and after that film, I was suddenly all too aware of bein' a dead body floating around. Plus, the use of music, and that Robert Shaw bloke with the kicking his legs and you just know he's doomed, poor sap… bloody brilliant. Stop smirking, you idiot."**

"**Sorry. It's just, every time I think I've seen all of your sides, you spring something new on me," Xan grinned. As he went to the kitchen, he threw over his shoulder, "You know where the videos are - the good Jaws is on the bottom shelf, where it won't touch those crap sequels."**

**When he returned with the beer, he found Spike waiting with a blanket. He uncertainly handed him a beer and hesitated sitting down.**

"**I won't try anything untoward against your virtue," Spike was all too obviously annoyed. "Friends can sit close and huddle against the terrors on screen, yeah?"**

**After several seconds of staring, Xander finally relaxed with a grin, "Yeah. Yeah, I guess they can. Why not?"**

**-----------------------------  
**

End Ch 15


	16. Monday Surprise

**Coming of the Scooby Army**

Ch 16 - Monday Surprise

**Xander nearly sprung from the bed around noon, with a 'pep in his step' if he did point out himself. The night before had been fun, especially forcing Spike to watch 'Jaws II' and then the Italian knock-off, 'Tentacles' off of bootleg VHS, each movie dipping precipitously in quality. It was early morning before he finally turned in, leaving Spike to pop in 'Alien' to 'wipe the mind clean of the filth you've put in there'.**

**He didn't really know why he felt the need to torture the vampire, especially since all Spike did through the whole movie was bitch and moan… actually, that pretty much explained why he tortured the vampire. Spike was never more amusing than when he was insulting.**

**He walked across the living room, keeping an eye on the guest room door. It was closed. He continued his way to the kitchen to start coffee. On the counter, next to the computer his cell phone was buzzing every several seconds, wearing out its battery as it tried to tell somebody to grab a message….**

"**Hey, Xan! Good news," Joe's deep, African-American voice said. "We got the contract to help out on the condo-wreckage I mentioned before - remember? Anyway, I don't know how long it'll be for, probably only a week or two. They just offered a short-term project to help the primary contractor get caught up. But, anyway, money's money, am I right? Give a holler when you get this - I've got the money for two workers, and I definitely want you on it - as long as you didn't go and get too spoiled by the desk job to do some manual work now," his former, and now future, boss laughed. "If you got a recommendation on the third, I'm all ears - but I was thinkin' Eddie - he's a bit odd, but seemed to do good work. Give me a call…."**

**Xan released a breath of relief at that. Truth was, he did kind of need a job right now. There wasn't nearly as much in his savings as he had thought - too much spending when he and Anya were an item - and it had surprised him how fast it disappeared in rent, utilities and groceries.**

**As the coffee's scent made him feel even better than when he awoke, he made his way over to the guest room. He didn't expect it to be anything but empty - undoubtedly Spike had gone back to Giles' to keep any eye on Dawn. With little hesitation, he cracked the door open and burst into a full out grin when he saw the vampire lying still fully dressed over the mattress.**

**Xan went up to him and whispered in his ear, "It's just me. I'm removing your boots for you," he said quietly before doing just that. The vampire had mentioned to him in the past about how often times catching a vampire sleeping wasn't automatically non-fatal to the surpriser and he didn't want Spike making a desperate, self-preservation lunge at him. Not that he'd get far without the chip intervening, buy why risk having the vampire give him a heart attack, or worse, making him pee his pants.**

--------------

**"Hey, Dawn," Kevin called to her as she left school.**

**Again, her teacher released the class early since they were on their last week. You could more than easily tell that she'd had just about enough of showing up everyday - as had Dawn, herself. Only eight of her fellow students had ended up sticking out the summer term, and she was relieved and happy that she could tell the gang that she'd passed.**

**Or, she would once the final assignment had been completed.**

**"What's your plans? Wanna go to lunch," he smiled at her, somehow brightening the already painfully bright day.**

**"Love to," she grinned. "But, then I have to go to the public library. I have one last term paper to write up before Friday, and then I'M FREE! Or, at least for a week," she shrugged.**

**"Yeah? What's the subject; maybe I can help?"**

**"Actually, the subject is open. We just need to choose a famous person and write up a ten page mini-autobiography."**

**"Ick."**

**"Please, don't encourage me to think about it. If I don't pass this, the whole summer will have been blown for nothing. Not to mention two aunts and two uncles who'd kiss my ass."**

**"Well…," Kevin said with a sly smile, "Since it can be anyone, how about Vincent Van Gogh? I already wrote a report on him in eighth grade, so I sort of know where the good books on him are. And," he added a little shyly, "I could, you know, help you and we could, uh, spend some more time hanging out."**

**"Cool," Dawn nodded, while trying to restrain the maniacal laugh of joy threatening to erupt and freak him out.**

-------------

**Tara rushed around town, trying to get in everything she needed to do so she could swing by Xander's and talk to him about when they could start repairs. She wanted to get Dawn out of Giles' place before Dawn's social worker felt the need to drop by. Most of the living room furniture was beat up and full of utensil holes from Giles' attempts to dinnerware them all to death. It was definitely not much better a living arrangement than her own home was right now, but they were trying not to impose on the Steins as much as possible, considering the near miss they'd had with a bullet.**

**She also wanted to spend some quiet time with Willow. They hadn't had sex in nearly two weeks and she wasn't ashamed to admit to being a bit … distracted, right now. She was hoping for a quick lunch and then an hour or so of alone time before she had to figure out what they were going to do for dinner. She also wanted to review, later, her list of damages at Giles' for Xan and make sure she hadn't missed anything. They had a few months to get things fixed there, so it wasn't a rush, but she wanted everything at least organized so they had a plan.**

-----------

**At that moment, Willow was sipping a too cool cup of coffee with one hand, while the other was holding a pair of wire cutters deep in Buffybot's guts. She wished, not for the first time, that they knew where Adam or Faithbot had gotten to. She could have cannibalized the parts she needed.**

**They'd never been able to figure out what had happened, exactly, though they had a good theory. Rick claimed the only one he'd moved was Buffybot and he'd left explicit instruction to the officer he had watch the house not to play with anything.**

**That left Alican. It would have been no problem for the half-demon to use that teleporting thing he did to return to Buffy's and whisk the two machines away. The thought made her even more uncomfortable with the Book of Midnight being in his possession. Her uneasiness wasn't made any less by Giles' assertion that he trusted al-Rashid "mostly". And that had seemed a pretty reticent admission at that. **

**But, there was nothing to be done about it, anyway. They couldn't travel to the Shadowrealm and even she wasn't strong enough to detect the cyborg and robot in another dimension and then summon them home - which she tried desperately not to dwell on because it made her feel less confident about finding and snatching Buffy from her Hell imprisonment.**

**At least she could feel slightly better, since while dozing off while searching (in vain, again) for an Urn of Osiris, she'd had contact from the Slayer. She was still coherent and warned Willow that she needed to be ready by Devil's Night, or her best chance would be blown.**

**She'd cried and had blood running down her arms and legs where deep scratches or cuts had been inflicted, but she told her friend not to worry - she wasn't going to break.**

**Willow had been about to tell her about the Urn and to see if she could maybe see where one might be from her spirit-reality, but she must have fallen over because she'd snapped awake with her head on the makeshift table where Buffybot was now lying. With a sigh of frustration and fear and exhaustion, she turned her attention back to removing the robot's damaged components and keeping a running list of what she was going to need in the next few days. At least she was able to recover from most of the programming corruptions.**

**Upstairs, she heard the phone ringing, but chose to ignore it.**

----------

**Rick had gone into the station, despite his day off, telling his wife he wanted to visit Marsha and see how she was doing. In actuality, he had gotten copies of the other detective's reports regarding the violence of the past few weeks - he especially was parsing every word of the report from the old Sunnydale High, where paramedic Ryan Crest had been only hours before killing himself and his wife.**

**An immigrant worker there had bashed his boss following the small quake they'd had… and interestingly, claimed to not understand why he'd done it. Nothing strange in that, humans did lots of shit all the time that they couldn't explain, but this being Sunnydale….**

-----------

**At his apartment, Xander was rinsing off his dish from the sandwiches he'd just had for lunch when there came a knock at the front door. When he peeked through the spy hole, he was taken aback by a familiar and not at all welcomed face.**

"**C-can I come in. Please," Jonathon Levinson looked scared and downcast when the door in front of him opened violently.**

"**I don't believe this."**

"**Please. I just… I wanna try to make things right. Here," Jon said, pulling his hand out of his jacket pocket. He had several hundred dollar bills. "I cashed my check from Friday. It's yours… to help repair the stuff we did at Buffy's. A-and, I'll get more… whatever it takes to fix things."**

**Against his better judgment, he stepped aside and Jon came in, shoulders hunched as if he expected at any moment to be beaten. Xander certainly felt like doing a little hitting….**

"**You've got a lot of nerve, coming here."**

"**I know. I'm sorry. About all of it - i-it wasn't supposed to be like that."**

"**You attacked us!"**

"**It was a mistake! No one was supposed to get hurt," he said with anguish as he looked over the still visible scabs running up and down Xander's arms. "You were just supposed to be … defeated… and then we'd shoot some video, be kings of the Underworld and make a fortune. It - It wasn't supposed to involve blood."**

"**So why come here? You think this should be going to Dawnie," Xander said, shaking the fist that now held Jon's money.**

"**I thought it would be better if I stayed away from her. I- I didn't want to make you guys any more angry. Buffy is already going to beat the crap out of me when she gets back. Where is she anyway? We were surprised to recognize the robot Warren built."**

"**I don't think I need to answer questions," Xander nearly spat. "You're the one here that should be answering a few things… like why I shouldn't beat the hell out of you myself - or turn you over to Spike."**

"**Look, I know that you're pissed… you totally should be…."**

"… **Thanks for the permission," Xan sarcastically said.**

"**But, I'm trying here! I really want to fix this."**

"**Fix it? You have no idea what a mess you've put us in," Xander struggled not to shout loud enough for the residents in the apartments next door to hear. He thought about the Social worker and Buffy's absence and the Buffybot being damaged. "You have no fucking idea."**

"**I know."**

"**No! No, you see, that was my point! You don't know!"**

"**I'm trying," Jon whined, "I'm here! I brought money! I'm trying to do right by things."**

**Xan took a deep breath so he wouldn't grab the runt up by his shirt front and throw him around the room. At least that mess would be worth the trouble, "I want to know why. What the hell were you punks thinking?" **

**He winced. He should never use the work, 'punk', he wasn't Dirty Harry.**

"**I told you," Jon's defensive tone collapsed. "We were going to defeat Buffy's gang. Take some video and pass it around. Once we had the demons afraid, we'd force them to rob stores and banks and stuff for us. We'd have this temporary gang thing and then we'd clean out town and take off to the Caribbean. Warren promised us days on the beach with topless women serving drinks to us. I didn't know that he was going to cross the line, when he punched Buffy's sister… it just hit me then, what we were doing."**

"**I want Warren's head on a pick."**

"**I don't know where he is. He and Andrew ran out… of town, I think… and Andy won't return my calls. I've checked at our hideout, but everything's been abandoned there and they aren't home either. For what its worth, Warren completely disgusted me."**

"**That doesn't get you off the hook."**

"**I don't want to be off. I'm just saying that however I can help, I'm willing to do it. That includes apologizing personally to Buffy and Dawn… to everyone."**

"**I'll think about it. The cops are investigating, still. If I were you, I'd start praying that we don't decide to just turn you over. You can spend the next five years getting acquainted with Guido, the Swarthy Prison Stud."**

"**I ****will**** make this up to you guys. I swear," Jonathon said.**

--------

End Ch 16


	17. A Temporary Calm

**Coming of the Scooby Army**

Ch 17 - A Temporary Calm

**Xander sat across from his visitor, pouring over the lists she had written while forking salad into his mouth. Every so often, he'd make a notation on his own notes using something she'd written down on hers….**

"… **And you say he wants to 'help us'? Do you trust this guy? I mean, I guess that's a dumb question, considering…."**

**Xan gave a quick smile and a shrug to Tara before returning to the list in front of him. "I think he's on the up and up this time. He's definitely throwing a guilt-fest and he's scared of what Willow or Buffy is going to do." Switching tacks in mid stream, he added, "I'll have to look at the floors at Giles'. Hopefully I can do some sort of patchwork, but if we have to replace them, that's going to be a fortune. And, there'll be no way to cover that up from the landlord."**

"**Here's the court papers," Tara pointed to a packet that hadn't been gone through, yet. "I'll take them with me and help Dawn fill them out later tonight. Unfortunately, the clerk told me that they'd be taking a statement as well from Ms. Sinclair and Ms. Portlynn… I thought it would be an automatic thing, but apparently the Court can turn down Dawn's application for emancipation if they feel it's 'not in her best interest'. And so far, Ms. Sinclair hasn't seemed very impressed with our parenting skills."**

"**Maybe we can have Spike attack her and come to her 'rescue'… should buy us about a thousand brownie-points," Xan grinned.**

**That caused Tara to break into a smile, too, and she was glad she had come over. Xander was the only one of the group left who she felt was helping her deal with the day to day stuff. Spike was focused on Dawn's safety and too… blunt… to deal with the authorities and Willow was all about the Buffybot and Buffy's alleged entrapment. **

**Tara sighed and rubbed at her eyes.**

"**Hey, you okay?"**

"**Oh, yeah! Absolutely."**

"**T."**

**She gave him a beleaguered sigh. "I'm just exhausted Xan. I'm fine, really. Let's just get through this latest crisis and then I'll collapse for a week."**

**His reply was pre-empted by a knock at the apartment door. When he took a peek through the spy hole, he found Detective Stein waiting.**

**He opened the door with a puzzled expression, "Rick? Hey come in. How is Carole?"**

"**She's fine, thanks," Rick rushed in, carrying several folders. "I need to talk to you. Hi, Tara. I think I've got a 'Sunnydale situation' maybe."**

"**Okay. Slow down and take a seat," Xan pointed to the dining table.**

"**Here Rick, let me get you a plate and fork," Tara added.**

"**No, thanks… I want to get back to Carole. I just wanted to know if you guys can look over this stuff. I've made copies of some police reports and then arranged them in a chronological order… it points to something disturbing."**

"**Not surprising in this town," Xan muttered.**

"**So, I've learned. But, this is personal. I think whatever is going on is what caused Marsha to come to the house with that gun."**

"**Detective Gannon," Tara clarified.**

**He responded with a nod. "Just take a look at these and then we'll talk. Whatever is happening, I feel like it's a 'Hellmouth' thing. I'm hoping that you guys will give me some answers I'm not going to get with regular police work. Assuming there is such a thing around here, anymore," he added with a trace of bitterness.**

**With this, he marched back out of the apartment.**

"**He's not taking the supernatural very well," Tara worried.**

"**No," Xan shook his head, before meeting her gaze. "No, I don't think he is."**

-------

**Around 3pm, Tara came into the Summers home. As she walked past the softly beeping answering machine, she gave a brief glare at the device. She was assuming that it would be the social worker wanting to discuss something with 'Buffy' and she didn't really want to deal with that at the moment.**

"**Dawn! Willow? Anyone still home?!" She was standing near the staircase leading to the second floor, but didn't hear a response. With a roll of her eyes, she went directly to the basement door and cracked it open. "Will?"**

"**I'm here," she called up.**

"**Have you eaten, yet?"**

"**No, but I'm fine."**

**Tara again rolled her eyes. She knew that Willow had probably gone all day without a bite. She was probably overdosed on caffeine and killing her eyes with the poor amount of light down there, too.**

**Zipping around the kitchen, she threw together a few bologna sandwiches and dumped a few Doritos onto a plate. When she came up behind Will, she found a manifest of some sort, but it was garbled in 'almost English'.**

**Willow looked over her shoulder and as soon as she saw the plate of food, her stomach loudly growled.**

"**Honestly, Will, you're going to make yourself sick," Tara complained as she set down the plate and leaned in for a deep kiss.**

"**I'm okay. But, thanks… those sandwiches look good enough to marry right now."**

"**So, what's this," she pointed to the screen.**

"**I'm going through a manifest of this tiny museum in Mut, Egypt."**

"**Mut? Where in the world is that… and why? And, why is it all in mangled-English?"**

"**Oh, well, the manifest is only online in Arabic. I'm trying a translation program, and you can see it's not very good."**

"**What are we looking for?"**

"**The Urn."**

"**Oh. Still no luck, huh? I've never even heard of 'Mut', have you tried Alexandria or Cairo? No, of course you have… you're smart," Tara smiled.**

"**I have. All of the major cities, which is why I'm now wandering through every remote oasis town in the desert… I wish we'd hear from Anya with good news. God," Willow shook her head in amusement, "****I'm**** wishing we'd hear from Anya!"**

**The two lovers shared another kiss before Tara briefly rested her hand on the other's shoulder. "Well, I want to see that you've eaten the next time I come down here. And, you should really work upstairs where there is more light. Maybe, if there's some money left over after the major repairs, we can talk to Xan about wiring another light over your work space."**

"**That would be good," Willow nodded. "But, I'm gonna stay down here 'til dinner. I like the quiet. Plus, I'm sort of bouncing back and forth between the robot and the laptop when I need a break from one or the other."**

"**Okay," Tara bent down and kissed her forehead. "There's a message on the machine upstairs… maybe it's Anya."**

"**Yeah, right. It's ****that**** woman…."**

----------

**In London, at Heathrow, Giles' heart hammered in his chest as he and Ms. Mills deplaned. Not that anyone would realize it, of course. His Watcher training had made him a master at hiding signs of stress or fear and after all of the monster attacks, abductions and dealing with Buffy and her friends he had done, this was to be a breeze.**

**Or, so he kept telling himself.**

**The terminal was crowded with people and it was easy to tell the natives, who strolled with a clear purpose, from the tourists, who wandered looking lost and confused. He led Lavinia, holding her hand tightly, as they weaved through their fellow travelers on the way to the luggage unloading area.**

**They didn't get far. From the crowd, a hand suddenly grabbed at Giles' elbow and then there was another set of hands grabbing his other upper arm. In front of him, as if he appeared out of the ether, stood Mr. Travers.**

"**Rupert Giles. By my authority as designated through the Executive Council of the Watchers Council of Great Britain, I hereby inform you that you are under arrest pending a complete review of your recent activities."**

**Giles felt a surge of dark energy pulse through him along with his anger at being treated this way. He was here by choice… the Council wouldn't know a damned thing if he hadn't voluntarily supplied the information.**

**The gathered men and Lavinia saw inky darkness blot out Giles' eyes as his indignity was clearly reflected in the look on his face. Light violet-pink strings of energy raced down the cloth of his shirt and streamed into the men's hands that held him. **

**It had no obvious effect. And, before things could escalate further, Travers had placed a pendant over his head. The hanging jewelry was a clear, tear dropped shaped crystal and with a single Latin word uttered by Quentin, Giles suddenly felt all of his strength lost. His knees buckled, and a swoon overcame him.**

"**Th-this wasn't necessary," Ms. Mills angrily gritted through her teeth. "He was cooperative!"**

"**Step back ma'am," one of the unnamed gentleman now supporting Rupert warned.**

"**Ms. Mills?! I had no idea that you would be here, my dear. I did not know that you and Rupert were acquainted, nor that you were in Sunnydale," he appeared annoyed. "I'll have to speak to our Intelligence wing about that."**

"**I don't like being spied on, Quentin. And since my divorce from Russell, there is no reason for the Council's Intelligence operatives to be keeping a tab on my whereabouts. Now, what is the meaning of this appalling behavior… Rupert is here voluntarily."**

**The two gentleman escorting Giles began to walk away, with him staggering. As Travers fell in behind them, Lavinia marched at his side, incensed. She looked around for airport security or a bobby, but they were completely absent from the entire area… no doubt due to the Council's oversized influence in England's upper echelons….**

"**Relax, my dear. No permanent harm has been done. We're simply being proactive in our precautions."**

"**You're being an ass."**

"**Ms. Mills, I'll remind you that you have no opinion in official Council business and you are no longer in America. I have no idea why you have gotten involved at all, but I can have you detained by immigration, if you cannot remain civil. Now, allow us to do our job, yes?**

"**Mr. Giles, do you wish to make a preliminary statement," Travers continued, ignoring the woman's verbal sound of frustration at his side.**

"**I do not… at this time," Giles looked at the hands which tightly held him. "Other than to agree with Lavinia that this was unnecessary."**

"**Perhaps," Quentin said, "But best not to take chances on your having second thoughts about cooperating…."**

-----------------

End Ch 17


	18. Bad News

**Coming of the Scooby Gang**

Ch 18 - Bad News

**Tara sat at the kitchen island with a sandwich and stared at the hallway. She couldn't see it, but she knew the red light was blipping from the phone and it was mocking her resistance. She knew she was going to be the one to listen to Ms. Sinclair's latest demand to speak to Buffy. She also knew it was going to be her that would have to call the woman back and make up something, and really, how many excuses were going to fly at this rate?**

**After briefly switching her focus to the basement door and allowing herself to fantasize that Willow was going to come up any second now and inform her the robot was back online, she gave a short groan and walked into the living room. On the credenza abutting the staircase, the phone's little red light was flashing and every thirty seconds it gave a slight beep. She hated it.**

**Taking a deep breath and holding it, she pressed the key and listened….**

"**Tara, call home," a male voice she instantly recognized hoarsely said.**

**Tara stared at the phone for a moment longer, a chill running down her back as she exhaled. Donnie wouldn't have called her just to say 'hi' even before she fell out with the family over her decision to stay in Sunnydale. And the obvious distress in his voice, evident over even so short a message had her dreading calling Louisiana. Whatever was going on down there, it wasn't going to be pleasant.**

**Slowly she picked up the receiver and taking another deep, cleansing breath dialed the number in Petite Crique.**

**After the third ring, Donnie's rough voice said a hello and for just a split second Tara wished to hang up the receiver, but instead she returned the greeting.**

"**Hi, Tara. You need to come home. Dad's dead."**

----------------

**Dawn and Kevin sat at the kitchen table in the Stein's home ostensibly working on a report due by the end of the week for school. Actually, there was far more stealing glances at one another or 'accidentally' brushing fingers as they both reached for the bowl of potato chips in front of them.**

"**So, there's this art program at the community center that I'm checking out."**

"**Yeah? That sounds cool," Dawn smiled.**

"**I guess. I mean, yeah, it would be cool. So, ah, about that movie… I mean I know it's not this weekend, but do you have any idea at all? I mean, is there anything at the movies that you haven't already seen?"**

"**I haven't given it any thought," she lied casually. Thinking about what sort of movie to watch with Kevin on their first date was taking up most of her brain power… most of the rest was taken up with wondering about when their first kiss would happen. She just hoped he wouldn't lose his soul, turning into a murderous stalker and end up being sent to Hell. Her sister already did that.**

**In the living room, they heard Carole on the telephone making dinner reservations for she and her husband for later that evening. There'd been some discussion of Dawn staying alone for the night, but after what had happened over the last several days, it was decided she'd have to go back to Tara for the evening.**

**Dawn more than half suspected that they were more worried about what she and Kevin would be up to on their own. **

_**As if I'd have a boy over without them being home. As if I'm even close to ready for sex,**_** she thought nervously, with a glance in Kevin's direction. She could feel her face heat up and that just made her more embarrassed.**

"**You okay," he suddenly asked. "You look a little perspirey."**

"**Oh! Uh, yeah. Sure. I, uh, I'm just, uh… it's just a thing."**

"**Oh. Okay," Kevin smiled questioningly, before turning back to the book on Dawn's report subject he was skimming for her.**

_**Oh my God, **_**Dawn panicked, **_**I am **__**so**__** humiliating myself! Get a grip, Dawn… Kevin hasn't even made a real move yet and you're already thinking about sex! Spike is **__**so**__** going to kill me if he even suspects I'm having those thoughts… or he'll terrify Kevin right out of town!**_

----------------

"**Anything? C'mon, man, point me in the right direction while we got some daylight," Keith Campbell said irritably.**

**Tangina sighed, annoyed. "How many times do we have to go through this? I've told you, I'm not in control of these things. Sam tells me what he wants to tell me when he wants to tell me."**

"**He's playing games!"**

"**Keith. Chill. She's doing the best she can," Donna told him, while she flipped through the channels of the small television in the motel room. The sound was turned down so as not to disturb Tangina, but she still seemed to be having difficulties since they'd come to Sunnydale a few days ago. And, Keith wasn't the most patient man she'd ever known.**

"**They could have bit more people last night, more parents! We were so close to finishing them for good," he bunched his fists in frustration. "Those stupid guys…."**

"**We'll get them, Honey," Donna sighed.**

"**I'm sorry, but Sam is just not here," Tangina walked away from her spirit board in frustration. "There's something weird about this town. I wonder if we're on a ley line?"**

"**I wonder if you're 'friend' is a big fake."**

"**That's not fair! He's got us this far," Tangina nearly yelled. She was very sensitive when it came to Sam.**

"**Of course he has," Donna soothed. "And, we're grateful. Even Keith. He's just… passionate about killing those things."**

"**I'm going for coffee," Tangina grabbed her jacket and stomped out of the room.**

"**Keith…."**

"**I know, Donna, I know. I'll apologize later to her. I'm just … frustrated. This is the third time we've been right there and they got away."**

"**I know," Donna got up from the bed she'd been laying on, propped against the headboard. Taking him in a large hug, she rocked him gently. "I know it's hard. I know you need this to put your parents' death behind you, but you could be a lot more … diplomatic… around other people."**

"**I leave that to you," he grinned and kissed her forehead. "You're the peace maker in this family."**

"**Then as a peacemaker, I think we should ask for help."**

"**From who? Not those weird guys?!"**

"**They weren't weird, Keith. They knew what they were doing and they know this town inside and out. We're strangers here. We could take hours going through every building and still miss where our bad guys are hiding out… you know I'm right."**

**Keith sighed. "Damn it. You probably are. As usual," he smiled at her. "I'll think about it."**

------------------

**Willow heard Tara come down the stairs and when she sensed her behind her, she said over her shoulder, "Nothing yet."**

**When she didn't respond, Will gave a glance over her shoulder and froze. Tara looked at her shell shocked, her mouth open like she was struggling to come up with anything to say. **

"**Tara? Tara, what is it," she immediately left her seat and embraced the other woman. "Hey, you okay?"**

"**I-I don't know. I… my dad. He had a heart attack."**

"**Oh, no. I'm sorry, Baby… is that who was on the phone?"**

**Tara nodded her head. "He's dead, Will. My daddy died."**

**Willow looked at her stunned and then embraced and held her as Tara shook.**

"**I don't… I'm not sure what I'm feeling."**

"**You're in shock, Baby. C'mon, let's go upstairs. I'll make hot tea … we'll sit for a bit, okay?"**

"**Yeah. Okay. Willow? I have to go home. I ****have**** to. How can I not? He's my father."**

"**Of course you'll go home, Tara. That's not even a question. I'll go with you. Xander can watch Dawn…."**

"**Oh. Okay. I-I don't know what things will be like… with Donnie… and Beth. I-I don't even know if they want me there," Tara said as they made their way up into the kitchen.**

"**Tara, stop worrying about everyone else. You're dad has passed away. You worry about what ****you**** need and that's gonna be to go home and say good bye to him."**

"**Okay. Thanks, Will. I-I think I'm not really with it, yet. I-I'm more in shock than sad… is that weird?"**

"**No," Willow responded firmly. "This came out of the blue, and you're feeling stunned. It's totally normal."**

"**Yeah. Y-yeah… I can't stop shaking."**

**Willow kissed her deeply once she had her seated at the kitchen island. "I'm gonna get you something hot to drink. You just sit here until the shock wears off."**

"**Will? Thank you. I love you."**

"**I love you," Willow put her hand briefly over Tara's trembling one. "We'll get through this, too, like we have the other bad stuff."**

---------------

End Ch 18


	19. Danger on the Horizon

**Coming of the Scooby Army**

Ch 19 - Danger on the Horizon

Nevada:

"**Listen, I'm telling you guys that this town is ripe," Warren Mears stated with as much authority as he could manage under the circumstances. "All you have to do is ride in and do what you do."**

"**And we should risk it because…," the demonic gang leader questioned.**

**Warren didn't like the way that this thing was looking at him, nor his 'crew'. It was disconcertedly like he was a possible meal… or play thing. The demon he was addressing was an odd mottled, pinkish-tan colored being, heavily built with muscle and with earrings puncturing his pointed ears, his flat, nose-less face, even the sides of its neck. Many of the other demons surrounding him were similarly adorned, and all wore a look that clearly said he was most unwelcome. He was glad he hadn't brought Andrew, as the other young man would surely have spoiled everything with the peeing of his pants.**

**Warren however did not do so. He instead took a step closer, up into the face of this demon biker and grinned a 'tough-guy' smile, ignoring the ripe scent and the smell of old leather that hadn't been cleaned in months, if not years.**

"**Because, right now, the Hellmouth is unguarded," he nearly whispered, as if he were in a conspiratorial partnership with the thing in front of him. He looked around at the two dozen creatures waiting for the word that he was fair game, "The Sunnydale Slayer has taken a sabbatical," he said far more loudly. "The town is vulnerable… as is the portal."**

**He confidently met the gang leader's eyes and smiled, "It's just waiting for someone who can do something with it."**

**There was general murmuring among the crowd in the abandoned former bar, but Warren kept his attention on the Gang Master. It was his call on whether he would be stripped of his flesh and consumed right now, or whether there would be a deal.**

"**How do you know this," the demon gang leader asked, full of suspicion.**

"**Uh-uh. I'm free to leave, then I share the details."**

**The demon leaned into Warren's face and huffed fetid air in his face from a mouth full of teeth were made for tearing apart prey. "You're not in a position to bargain, Human."**

"**If I can't leave, then there's no point in any of this," Warren pointed out, sounding far more full of bravado then he actually felt. "Do you want the details of Sunnydale's defenses or not?"**

"**The Slayer wouldn't just wander away…."**

"**The Slayer isn't exactly the type that you're used to. She tends to ignore her handler and take off on her own errands. Right now, she's not there."**

"**Then we don't need you," the demon grinned savagely. "You've already told us what we need to know…," it's clawed hand grabbed him by his shirt front.**

**Warren brazenly knocked the hand away from him with a look of disgust, "Except, I didn't tell you about the witches… or the vampire… standing with her. Do we have a deal or not?"**

"**Why would a human deal with us? Why sell out your town… your world," the demon not unreasonably wondered. In the meanwhile, Warren clearly picked up an undercurrent of excitement going through the crowd around him.**

"**Because, I'm anti-Slayer. And, I'm anti-Sunnydale. That's all ****you**** need to know. And right now, the Slayer's virginal kid-sis is waiting for some demon man enough, pardon the expression, to 'take' her, if you get my drift."**

**The demon narrowed his eyes at him and then burst out in a roar of laughter. "This weak man is free to go," he shouted out to his followers. "When he's told us what we need to know about this virgin and how to overcome the Hellmouth's Guardians!" He leaned once again into Warren's face, "But if we arrive and find the Slayer there, we ****will**** come for ****you****," he added.**

**Warren grinned and nodded.**

-------------------

**Later in the evening, Willow was on the phone with Xander from the Summers' home. Upstairs, Dawn was in her room with the radio down low.**

"**Tara told me about her casting to help Dawn stay hidden. It was relatively easy for me to finish . She shouldn't have an issue with going with Cordy at the end of the week."**

"**How is she doing," Xander asked, looking out into the twilight over Sunnydale from his apartment balcony. "God, that's a stupid question."**

"**No, she's okay," Will said with a voice full of sadness. "I mean, this is a really bad time for this to come up, but she's not falling apart or anything."**

**The news of Tara's father's death earlier in the day was a sucker punch to the young witch, but Willow had run a steaming bath after she'd gotten her over the initial shock. She was up in Joyce's bathroom now, soaking with another hot cup of soothing tea.**

"**Tell her how sorry I am."**

"**I will. But, I have to go with her Xan. I ****have**** to. I've emailed you the stuff I'll need and the approximate costs for the Buffybot. I need that stuff tomorrow so I can get her up and running before we take off for Cajun Country."**

"**Of course. I'll see to the money. Have you heard from Giles?"**

"**No. But, considering the Council, I'm not sure we will. I'm hoping that Lavinia will update us though. You may want to stop at the house and check the machine for any messages when we're gone."**

"**And Dawn," he asked.**

"**Sad. But handling it. After Joyce and Buffy, the death of someone she didn't really know and didn't like isn't really bothering her much. She's mostly hurting for Tara's sake."**

"**Yeah. Listen, Spike just came out here, so I need to fill him in…."**

"… **He stayed over? Should I read anything into that, she says supportively."**

"**Not yet," Xan replied with humor. "But, you never know."**

* * *

**Dawn sat on her bed looking over her work from the library. The Steins were having another evening to themselves, so she was back at home, which she didn't at all resent. Her heart ached for Tara and she wondered, not for the first time, if this had something to do with her. Not that there was any reason to think so, but there seemed to be a lot of death since she 'popped up' in her 'family's' life. Xander's dad… her mother… her sister… now Tara's dad… and almost Carole.**

**She sighed and again wished she knew more about herself, her origins, her weird nature….**

**With a sigh, she turned her attention back to her homework. Kevin had done a good job of making notes in his elegant script and she had sheets of paper spread out in front of her. She was now writing, long form per her teacher's instruction, Van Gogh's life - focusing on his melancholy. It was something she could currently relate to all too well.**

* * *

"**Update me? Giles?" Spike struck a match and lit a cigarette.**

"**No, no word from our wandering Watcher. Tara's dad died - heart attack."**

"**Poor White Wicca. On the other hand, 'who cares'. The man was an asshole."**

"**Yeah. But it was her dad…, it doesn't really matter that he wasn't so nice now. So, Dawn is going to stay here, if the Steins are busy sexing until she goes to Cordy."**

"**Vision-girl," Spike blew smoke directly in Xan's face, his scowl apparent.**

"**I know. You don't want her out of eyesight. But she needs time away, Spike."**

"**She's not normal. Every witch, psychic and seer is going to detect her from miles away," the vampire complained.**

"**Got it covered. The mojo from Tara and Willow will keep her cloaked."**

"**I've been clear about my objections to this."**

"**You objected to her going to L.A.," Xander reminded him. "We're going to keep her closer. Neutral ground between us and them."**

"**Not. The. Point."**

"**Spike, you can't keep smothering her."**

"**Like Hell."**

"**I'm serious. The decision has been made. And we don't want you following her."**

**Spike turned away and gazed out over the night, his grinding teeth working silently. "This is a bad idea," he finally said.**

"**We're people. We make bad decisions. But, this one is necessary. Between Buffybot and you and the witches, and even me, Dawn is feeling trapped. She needs oxygen."**

"**I'm assuming you mean that metaphorically."**

"**You need to… loosen the grip on her. She needs you to."**

"**The last time I trusted her to her own, she got killed. Buffy would never forgive me if she knew," he said quietly.**

**Xander came up behind him and slung an arm around his waist, pulling him to him, "That wasn't your fault. And, I think she's learned her lesson. With Cord's weird vision-powers, she should be okay for a weekend."**

"**Not promising that I won't slip out after her, but I'll try."**

"**That's all we can ask," Xander nuzzled the back of his neck.**

* * *

End Ch 19


	20. Trials and Tribulations

**Coming of the Scooby Army**

Ch 20 - Trials and Tribulations

**Spike and Xander Harris wandered through the cemetery near his apartment. The gravestones were dark shadows in a lightless landscape and, not for the first time, Xan felt a pang for Hyena. Bitch though she was, his nighttime eyesight was better when she'd been present. He still dreamed of her and thought he heard whispers from her once in a while when he awoke suddenly.**

"**Let's make our way in the general direction of the motor lodge," Xander told the vampire. "I want to check on Donna and her boyfriend."**

"**Sure."**

"**Spike…."**

"**You've been clear: Dawn is going, I'm not following. I don't want to talk about it anymore. I'm not going to be happy no matter what comes out of your mouth about it."**

"**Where's a vampire attack when I need one," Xan muttered.**

**Spike only snorted in his general direction before lighting another cigarette. "I'm bothered that we haven't heard from Giles."**

"**You're**** bothered? About Giles not being over your shoulder? That's new."**

"**I'm worried about what he may be saying; don't want a bunch of Council twits tramping about… not all of 'em would bother understanding that a vampire with a chip in his head can be an ally, if not exactly a white knight."**

"**Giles wouldn't bring up anything that would cause them to come here. As far as they're concerned, Buffy is still in charge and they know how much trouble there will be if 'she' thinks they're butting in."**

"**Magic, Xan. Magic. You never know what they're using it for… for all we know the Watcher is on a rack being interrogated with truth spells and spilling everything he knows about Sunnydale."**

"**Thanks for giving me something new to worry about. And, I don't believe you. But, thanks for scaring me, anyway," Xan sighed into the night. "It's been too quiet lately."**

"**It has. I've taken out a few vampires here or there, but…."**

"**Something big coming… so early?"**

"**Can't say…," Spike stared off, scanning the darkness around them.**

* * *

**In the cheap and tacky hotel room, the girl calling herself Tangina sat on the floor. Her back was propped against the mattress and her legs splayed out in front of her. Between them sat the witchboard and its immobile planchette. **

**Tangina breathed slowly and deeply, trying to become receptive to Sam, her spirit advisor. Keith and Donna had left, she worried and he angry (as usual) when Sam wouldn't answer her question about where the vampires were that they sought. She told him to just wait for her to come up with something, but he was impatient (as usual) and being a prick (as usual) about it and told her he'd just wander aimlessly around town. Like, he was just going to so happen to run across them….**

_**Whatever, **_**Tangina rolled her eyes, before shaking out her hands and trying to meditate again. It wasn't usually this difficult to reach Sam and he wasn't the type to ignore her… at least he hadn't been until they'd arrived here. **

_**Oh, come on Sam! You're really damaging my psychic-cred here.**_

**The flat triangle on its base of three points twitched under her fingers momentarily before the entire board flew up off of the floor and across the room, startling a scream from her. In the back of her mind she heard the voice she imagined Sam would have if she could ever talk to him aloud whispering one word… '**_**Danger**_**'.**

* * *

**The Hellmouth Wisp, now trapped within what passed for Dawn Summers' soul, gazed mesmerized upon an ever shifting three-dimensional vista. It could feel Dawn's energy twining around and through it, but it was no longer fearful or disturbed by it. This girl It had wished to possess and inspire into murderous deeds was different than anything It had encountered before, and while It knew It had been trapped, It found Itself no longer afraid of being destroyed.**

**Around the insubstantial thing, there were scenes as if from the girl's viewpoint. As if the Wisp-being were seeing through her eyes, but these things weren't occurring in the real world. Through her physical sight, It could tell she was alone, looking at papers and generally being boring.**

**In this space within however, she was seeing entire worlds: a vampire with a soul leaping in front of someone she instinctively identified as 'sister' and taking a bullet meant for the Slayer, a vast panorama from a beach gazing out over a purple sea, an underground cave or tunnel of some sort - the dark dirt staining her hands, holding some man identified as a son - blood streaming from his nose and mouth, a classroom full of small children listening in rapt attention to whatever their teacher - Dawn - was saying….**

**It was very much like this girl had an entire multi-verse of realities within her, if only she could see them. It could not hear any of these worlds… in this space It was deaf to these internal realities and to the outside world where It had so recently had Its fun and frustrations. **

**It could see not just other-earths, but entirely other realms: worlds of eternal shadow, hell dimensions, bright and shiny mountains with winged humanoids soaring… each vision more fascinating than the last. And none of them staying in view nearly long enough for It to get any but a brief idea of what each world would be like. It imagined this is what it would be like if It was connected to the Hellmouth that It had traveled through to get here - portal upon portal just waiting to be opened all contained in a single point in space/time.**

**The next vision to appear around It was a dark night except for the star-filled sky. There was a two lane road surrounded by desert and it was leading toward Sunnydale. It did not know how It could determine that, since there were no road signs, but It believed it without question. **

**On the road was some sort of two-wheeled vehicles that Dawn's mind identified for It as motorcycles. And upon these were demons… two dozen of them… and they were coming to wreak havoc. It knew this and It was pleased.**

**And, It was disturbed and fearful for the girl… which It found disturbing in and of itself. It was being changed somehow and didn't want to be, but didn't know how to stop whatever was happening to It.**

**The scene shifted again to a world where Dawn's bleary hand was holding a smeary stake. As if she were crying heavily. The hand jabbed outward into the chest of a vampire - a middle aged woman who identified as 'mom'… and then the scene shifted again to a new world….**

**But the Wisp found Itself distracted by the vision of the motorcycling demons on their way to Sunnydale… it had been more 'solid' than the others either before or after it.**

* * *

**Rupert Giles found himself appalled and angry as he sat on a backless bench in the center of a large circle. The room was built of virgin wood, by some Order or another hundreds of years ago. Surrounding him were row upon row of benches laid out in a giant circle and leading up six rows deep. From the shadowed reaches of these benches eyes peered at him, some judgmental and glaring, others sympathetic and others unfeeling either way.**

**Somewhere in the rows was Lavinia Mills. It was unusual for a 'civilian' to be in the venue, but as she already knew too much anyway, Quentin made the necessary arrangements for her to attend this hearing. She was to act as a character witness of sorts and as resident expert on Sunnydale, since Giles wouldn't allow the Slayer or any of her intimate circle to travel to England - despite her repeated attempts and Quentin's strongly given advice.**

**In front of him, also on a long curved bench, were eight women and three men dressed in long robes and wearing various symbols hanging from silver chains around their necks. This was the Coven that the Watchers Council had forged strong ties to in the very earliest history of the organization. Though the Devon Coven technically remained a separate entity, the links between the two organizations were so many and so daily that they effectively acted as one. They were often called upon to act as jury in cases where magical abuses were involved among Council staff.**

**Giles could feel the resentment that would ordinarily cause the dark magic still permeating him to want to explode forth at those who sat in judgment of him. But he was currently chained by both wrists and feet to the floor. All of the metal from the cuffs to the ring in front of him that the chains that were attached to it were made of heavy iron with ivy branches woven into the chain links. The chamber floor and ceiling were covered in Celtic lettering and symbols stopping him from unleashing his magic on the hoard around him.**

**The Watchers sitting in the stands spoke to one another, looked over files prepared about him or just sat sizing him up. The witches in front of him sat stony-eyed and peering at him with curiosity. He could feel their magical senses, immune to the symbols and anti-magic incantations protecting this space, feeling him out and it only served to strengthen his anger.**

**Not that he didn't already know that this was coming, and he wasn't resentful because of any perceived injustice. He knew his strong negative feelings were generated by his dark magic 'infection' and he knew that the witches in judgment of him knew it as well. At least they weren't likely to take offense and hold his wanting to reach out and hurt them against him….**

**This place was lost in the deep woods of the Yealm valley with both the illusion of a broken down and tiny cabin and fear inducing magicks to protect it from intrusion. He'd only been here once before during his last year in London, just before being dispatched to 'take control' of his Slayer.**

'**Take control of…', that had turned out to be a laugh. But Buffy had proven herself unexpectedly adept at both recognizing the responsibility of her power and, after a rough start, accepting of it and she'd grown to appreciate his role in her development once her initial resentment had passed. And, of course, when he'd stopped acting the pompous ass that these people had turned him into….**

**It had taken him longer than it should have to understand her reluctance, her deep desire to be more than just an automaton in young girl's form that the Council had assumed she'd be… a living weapon that they could wield at their leisure. They'd never talked about it, why not he wasn't sure, but clearly much of her initial resentment of him was probably tied to Merrick. There could be little doubt that John Merrick had swept into Los Angeles like he'd owned the place and had initiated the Council's program as they'd all been taught. And Buffy, having already been through that once only to have her 'mentor' killed so quickly surely was hesitant to accept another into her life - especially since she'd never wanted to have 'super powers' and the responsibilities that they came with. He would have realized the emotional impact of that death on her if he also hadn't been brainwashed by these sanctimonious, authoritarian group of old, fat men. **

**Another wave of resentment and hatred for those surrounding him now rushed through him, but he struggled to tamp this down, knowing that these feelings were being amped up by his condition. Besides, the Council wasn't all bad - it had given him a purpose once he'd decided to accept it and they had given Buffy information on Glory and on how to contact a Guardian to help her. More, they'd come to a truce with her, allowing her to receive their assistance, without their iron control….**

_**No, no they aren't all bad, **_**Giles thought as Quentin presented his opening statement in this farce, **_**But I'll still crush you all!**_

* * *

End Ch 20


	21. Extinction

**Coming of the Scooby Army**

Ch 21 - Extinction

**The tiny village of Los Rocas Pacificas sat nestled against the base of the Sierra Nevada mountain range only a dozen miles from Walker Lake, from which it took much of its fresh water. The population of 124 were quickly diminishing in number amid heart rending screams of horror, confusion and death. The village had suffered its share of tragedies, mostly due to the occasional earthquake or the desert camper who'd failed to take an adequate amount of water out with them, but this was tragedy on an entirely different scale.**

**Communications from and to the small settlement were completely cut off and the loud sounds of raucous laughter, burning buildings, and the screams of civilization being brutally pillaged echoed out into the desert night and filled the air above the doomed villagers.**

**The demon, Razor, and his motorcyclists swarmed the houses of the people, raping those who caught their fancy and mercifully slaughtering the rest. Not that the former were spared - they just took longer to die.**

* * *

**With Wednesday night quickly advancing, Willow sighed with relief and smiled at her 'best friend' as she grinned back widely. "Let's test your reflexes. I'm not happy with the way you keep getting damaged."**

"**The Slayer can take a lot of punishment," she exclaimed much too chipperly. "And I heal very quickly!"**

"**Uh, yeah. Still, it's important that you keep yourself in good shape for the several days I'll be gone with Tara. Xander and Spike won't be able to make repairs if you get disemboweled again."**

**Willow turned to walk away from the Buffybot, standing against the wall of the basement, when the robot suddenly threw her arms around her. With a bruising squeeze the robot thanked her for 'helping' her, nearly lifting her off of her feet. The robot then continued to exclaim how they were best friends and how it loved Willow - but not in a 'Tara way' because that would be inappropriate and violate the 'relationship table' of her database.**

"**Okay, okay," Will pushed the robot off. "We need to deal with this haphazard mentioning of your 'databases' and any other robot-centric references before we get back to the physical tests," she sighed at the machine. "Take a seat on the floor and I'll get the laptop connected again."**

"**I should patrol! It's night time. Vampires come out at night. Where is Guy-les?"**

"**Arrrgh," Willow groaned wearily. "Giles! G-I-L-E-S, but with a 'J' sound in place of the 'G'! I thought we fixed that."**

**The Buffybot smiled, "It's funny that his last name is spelled with a G, but makes a J sound. English is a funny language!"**

"**Not so funny from my side of things," Willow deadpanned back, "but let's see where the mispronunciation is originating…."**

* * *

"**How's our guests," Xander asked Spike as they did a sweep of the Burnside Medieval Bed & Breakfast, the abandoned castle-like structure that visiting vampires seemed drawn to.**

"**Lots of infighting. They haven't found the vampires, yet. The Keith bloke is pissed off, girlfriend is insipidly supportive and medium-chick is worried about the spook she's used to gettin' answers from, but who is not in the talking mood."**

**Spike had spent the last few nights tailing them around more than patrolling, under Xan's direction and then complaining of his boredom when he checked in.**

"**Any signs of the vampires?"**

"**Hard to tell with me playing baby sitter, but I'm betting they've taken off. If they were on the run this long, there's no reason to think they were interested in squatting on the Hellmouth."**

"**Okay…, if they were still in town," Xan said as he came to a halt and looked around the dark hallway they were currently in, "This is the place I'd figure they'd be."**

"**Only if they were stupid. This place sticks out like a neon-sign flashing 'vampire residence' into the night."**

"**Dracula and Vanessa liked it well enough," he pointed out.**

"**Like I said… stupid," Spike smirked. "We should get you back to the apartment."**

"**It's only… eleven thirty. And we've been sort of less than thorough in our patrols lately," he sighed tiredly.**

"**You gotta work in the morning, while I'm sleeping. I don't like the puffy eyes you're sporting."**

**Xander had gotten a subcontracting gig clearing the wreckage of Glory's old penthouse building, now lying in rubble thanks to Giles. It wasn't much, certainly not paying anything near what he was making during the new mall project, but anything was better than wasting all day worrying about Dawn and bills and Social Workers and bills and Anya-Oz-Willow (which he wasn't sure Tara had told her yet) and bills…. Basically it was better moving rubble than obsessing on the bills at Buffy's house. He was going to be relieved when the Magic Box was back in operation and pulling in some kind of profit.**

**Of course those thoughts only had him shift his obsession to what was going on in England, so he quickly focused back on his conversation with the blood-sucking demon-guy at his side.**

"**Not that I don't appreciate the concern, but I'm fine… mostly. It feels good to do some physical work again, and I just want to take a quick look downtown before I turn in. After you escort me home," he said amusedly, "since you think I'm a dainty flower, you can then check in with Willy's new place. Remind him, he can relocate ****above**** ground if he wants."**

"**I have mentioned that, as I've already told you," Spike pointed out. "He gives a weasely nod and ignores me. And, I don't think you're a flower… but I also want you to stay in one piece."**

"**I'd like that too," Xander assured him. "I'm just saying that I've walked around a lot at night and I've been fine… well… usually."**

"**Usually isn't good enough for me. I ****will**** be swinging by the Stein house, too, to check on Dawn… make sure no other gunwomen have dropped by for tea…."**

* * *

**Upstairs on the top floor in the bedroom she shared with Willow, Tara angrily whispered over the phone, "She's special! We are together and ****nothing**** you say is going to make me feel guilty over my ****girlfriend**** coming with me!"**

"**You think I give a shit about whether you're tapping some dyke," Donnie harshly… and loudly… said from his end. "I don't care if you're with a dude, a chick or some combination! Daddy couldn't stand witches! You know that. It's… ****wrong****… for you to be dragging some mojo-tossing bitch down here!"**

"**I'm**** a 'mojo-tossing bitch', too. You want me to ignore coming down, as well?!"**

"**You do want you want, you ****always**** fuckin' do," Donnie exclaimed. Just before slamming the phone down on her ear, he added, "But I don't want some strange witch at ****my**** daddy's funeral!"**

**Tara slammed the phone down on the sudden silence from the line and stewed a bit before closing her eyes and meditating. She felt a lanky, furry body brush up against her and smiled as she pulled Ms. Kitty into her lap.**

"**Brothers, Ms. Fantastico! You're very lucky you don't have family issues to deal with."**

* * *

**At the Stein's home, in the spare bedroom, Dawn tossed and turned wide awake. With a beleaguered sigh, she got out of bed and went into the bathroom connected to her 'new room'.**

**She dug under the clothes in her luggage, still unpacked, and into her feminine hygiene product box until she felt the small bottle of sleep aid that she had turned to more and more frequently to help her sleep.**

_**This is becoming an unhealthy habit, Dawnie, **_**she thought as she popped two of the miracle pills. **_**Buffy and mom would not be happy and you really need to stop using these so often.**_

**She gave herself a wry grin in the mirror before returning to bed.**

_**On the other hand, if it's sleeping pills or insanity via insomnia… no contest, **_**she sighed.**

* * *

End Ch 21


	22. The Day Before Doomsday

**Coming of the Scooby Army**

Ch 22 - The Day Before Doomsday

**Dawn happily and giddily tapped her foot under the table, suffused with happiness. It was Thursday! The following day would be the last for summer school and by tomorrow evening, she'd be in a spa with Cordelia, who was like a whiz when it came to fashion and make up and knowing the best places to eat and shop and get pampered.**

**On her right, Kevin gave her a grin as well, "You are just a bit too happy to be leaving tomorrow."**

**"Sorry," she laughed, "But you just have no idea…."**

**They were in the high school library with the rest of her small class. Their summer session teacher was sitting in a corner near the door, obviously bored. She kept glancing at the clock in between reading pages of her gothic romance paperback. She'd decided that today would be 'library day' in order to give the kids a last chance to finish up their term papers - or so the excuse was; Dawn suspected she just wanted to avoid anymore work, but didn't want to get in trouble with Ms. Portlynn.**

**Kevin, technically, shouldn't even have been there. He didn't have summer school and wasn't part of the class. But he wasn't the only 'research assistant' present, as there were at least six extra people in the room. Their teacher was beyond the point of caring, however, as long as they all at least put in the appearance of working on their papers.**

**Dawn's had been finished the night before, so she and Kevin were basically doing a read through and looking for spelling and grammar errors. Partially, anyway. Mostly, they were just flirting and making plans for when she returned from her weekend away.**

* * *

**Upstairs at the Summers' house, in Willow and Tara's room, the red head had two suitcases opened and half full of clothing. She had stopped packing however and now kneeled on the floor. In front of her splayed in a semi-circle around her were five candles. In the center was one of slate grey, made of beeswax. Two more were to the right and left of this one, also lit, but black and made of soy. Each candle had a single black stone in front of them, and in front of all of this was incense, smoldering. The tableau was completed by a Tarot card - 'The Hierophant' - chosen to represent the woman sitting downstairs in the kitchen at this moment.**

**Willow chanted softly, eyes focused solely upon this card. Under the bed, Ms. Kitty Fantastico could just be heard growling softly at the magical mist emanating from Willow. From the Habitrail, Amy could be heard squeaking and rustling. She was sitting on her haunches, nose pointed straight up toward the top of the cage where she waved it back and forth, scenting the air.**

**As Willow felt herself reaching the point of no return, where the spell would need to be released or interrupted, she picked up the other Tarot card she'd laid within reach nearby. She placed this new card, 'The Moon' over the old and quickly flipped both over so that their faces were now hidden.**

**Accompanied by a small snap in the air, she whispered, "My will be done, so mote it be"….**

* * *

**In the kitchen, sitting at the island with coffee between them, sat Tara, Dawn's social worker and the newly restored Buffy robot. Tara couldn't keep from chewing at her lower lip, as her eyes darted between the other two with her.**

**"So, as you can see, Dawn could clearly benefit from some sort of mild intervention," Golda Sinclair shared with 'Buffy'. "I'm not suggesting psychological help per se, Dawn appears to be very well adjusted for the most part. I'm only saying that once a week, she should have the opportunity to speak with someone in confidence - a councilor who's discretion she can be confident in and where she can speak freely about anything that may be bothering her."**

**"Yes. I see that," Buffybot grinned widely. "But, she can tell me anything! We're sisters!"**

**"W-well, I'm sure she appreciates that. But sometimes, children in Dawn's position, being cared for by a sister in place of a parent can feel… stifled, in expressing their true opinions - perhaps because they're afraid to be a quote-burden-unquote. A councilor would allow her to express things she may feel guilty about saying aloud to family."**

**"What do you think," Buffybot frowned as if in thought as she turned to Tara beside her.**

**She was just feeling a sense of relief that the robot's responses seemed relatively normal, when she very suddenly stopped frowning and grinned maniacally instead.**

**"W-w-well, of course, we want to help Dawnie in any way necessary," Tara said, directing her comment at Golda. "If you believe Dawn may need this, we'll cooperate."**

**"I like Dawn! I think she's a very sweet girl. I want to help her, because she's my sister," the Buffybot exclaimed enthusiastically.**

**"Uh. Yes, yes, of course," Ms. Sinclair responded. The girl was weird and she was beginning to wonder if scheduling a random drug test might not be a good idea. "Uh, moving on, I wanted to bring up your father. I understand that since the divorce, he's appeared less and less in Dawn's life - such a shame, but a very common story these days, I'm afraid. What I wished to know is if there is a current address for him and I noted that in the financial forms I had you fill out, there is no mention of child support…."**

**"I've never met my father," Buffy chirpily said, causing Tara to choke on her sip of coffee.**

**The robot slapped her back, aggressively, leaving what was sure to be a bruise.**

**Tara managed to sputter, "She means that we haven't seen him in a long while. He's uh, he works overseas… a new life…."**

**"Hank Summers is irresponsible," Buffybot frowned deeply, sounding slightly angry. A split second later and she grinned beamingly again, "Thankfully we have Giles!"**

**"Yes, I see Mr. Giles on a lot of your responses," Golda said, looking over her forms. These, naturally, had largely been filled out by Giles himself on Buffy's behalf. "He appears to have played a major role in the family. I'm disappointed he returned to England before I could have an in-depth conversation with him."**

**"Giles went to England," Buffybot repeated, still grinning. "He does that."**

**"I'm afraid it couldn't be helped," Tara quickly intervened. "There was a, uh, family emergency."**

**"Yes. But, can I ask when we expect him back for an interview," Golda continued.**

**"I'm afraid I don't know," Tara admitted with obvious reluctance. "His family issue is… severe and, um, may take some time to sort out. But, he's really come through for us anyway! Even with this hardship, he's made sure that Buffy and Dawn are capable of looking after themselves."**

**"Right, I see he's arranged for this stipend from something called 'The Council'… all very mysterious," Golda gave one of her fake laughs that Tara recognized by now as exactly that… fake. "I can't seem to locate much information about them."**

**Buffybot opened her mouth to respond, causing Tara to quickly kick her artificial leg and a bit too loudly rush over her, "They're an exclusive British social club! It's all, uh, very old world and traditional and, uh, exclusive."**

**"The Council are run by jerks," Buffybot shared.**

**_Willow! Did you have to include that, _Tara worriedly thought.**

**"They act snobby and are always trying to control everyone. I'm glad I quit! Although, I have information that I've rejoined, but not the reasons why - Tara?"**

**"Uh! Uh… I-I th-think that Giles had to have you, um, officially be a member… uh… for the stipend. H-he must have, uh, taken care of that for you…," Tara stammered. She hated when her stutter returned like this - she knew it always made her seem evasive and nervous and that was the last thing she wanted to seem in front of Ms. Sinclair, but having Buffybot interact with people was always a risk, no matter how many times Willow tried to update her databases to contend with people outside of the Scoobies.**

**_Which, at least she hasn't mispronounced Giles' name, brought up Slaying or vampires or referred to her databases, yet, so I should count myself lucky, _she thought. She wished that Golda would wrap this up and leave.**

**At that moment, Golda herself felt a wave of slight dizziness pass through her. She reached up and rubbed her forehead, trying to ignore the slight nausea she felt.**

**"Uh," she started, rubbing at her eyes now, "Uh, I wanted to discuss this gentleman living here, too. I'm not comfortable with Dawn returning to the house with someone who calls themselves 'Spike' here, especially when he seems so… well… uh, he has a certain 'quality' I'm not comfortable with having a young teen girl around."**

**"Spike protects Dawn," Buffybot grinned widely. "He takes my place when I have to recharge…."**

**"… her mental batteries," Tara nearly screamed, before she caught herself in the nick of time enough to lower her voice… a bit…, "Uh, when she turns in to sleep. Sh-she and Spike, uh, both watch out for Dawnie… and we do, too. I mean we… we… all do… watch out for Dawn."**

**"Hmmm…," Golda squeezed her eyes tightly. "Well, I wanted my, uh, my… my concern, uh noted. I'm… I, uh, there was something else… it's escaped my mind, now."**

**"Ms. Sinclair? Your pupils are dilating strangely," Buffybot commented.**

**"Ms. Sinclair? Are you alright," Tara added at nearly the same time.**

**"I-I think so. I'm just… feeling off today. I'm sorry, it's been a very tiring week," she smiled apologetically. "I can't seem to focus. Uh, where were we… oh, right! I noticed the front and back doors sitting in the hallway, are they to be installed sometime soon?"**

**"Oh yes," Tara assured her. "We've received a report from the inspector and thankfully the damage has been mostly cosmetic. Xander is working this week at a site, he's in construction remember? And he's coming over this weekend to install them. He's also ordered a new front window, which we're expecting in about a week or so. I'm hoping to get the painting done by next weekend… I'm afraid this weekend, I have a funeral out of town."**

**"I see. Well, this is good news. Th-there was something… something…," Golda glanced through her notes, but appeared to be having trouble with finding what she'd been looking for. In fact, she seemed to be getting more distracted as they went on. Tara noted a light sheen of perspiration on her forehead now.**

**"Your heart rate has increased," Buffybot shared. "I am also detecting moisture along your upper lip and on your forehead…."**

**"Y-you… how did you know my heart is beating faster?"**

**"First aid training," Tara interceded again, before Buffybot could respond. "She's, uh, she's had first aid training… uh, military first aid… from Riley… her, uh, her boyfriend. Um, ex-boyfriend… or, uh… he's on duty, now…."**

**"Riley is nice! He should come back," Buffybot grinned.**

**"Th-this is new," Golda said. "I, uh, I don't have…, uh… is it possible to complete this interview later. I'm afraid I'm not feeling very well. I-I uh, I can't seem to focus… I'm so sorry."**

**"Of course," Tara said with relief. _That'll give us time to work more on Buffy's responses to questions._ "Are you alright? Can I get you water… or call someone?"**

**"Oh, no, no, dear, thank you. I-I just need to, uh… to…," Golda grabbed up her folder and the briefcase she'd carried in. "I, uh, I apologize… I… I'll call later…," she said as she quickly made her way out of the rear side-door.**

* * *

**Willow had returned to packing, nervously chewing at her lower lip. There were no traces of the paraphernalia used for her spell casting lying out, except for the scent wafting through the air. She kept glancing at the bedroom door and listening for footsteps. Finally, after what seemed like hours, Tara came into the room.**

**"Incense? That's nice," she said with a glance. The burner had been moved by Willow to one of the nightstands at the side of the bed.**

**"Yeah, things were kind of musty smelling in here. How did things go with that woman?" Willow quickly turned away to reach into the closet for a skirt, afraid that Tara would see or sense her nervous, rapid breathing.**

**"Oh, fine, I think. The robot is still having trouble with conversing with people who don't know everything, but I think I covered. Are we just about packed? Can I help out with anything," the blonde said, obviously distracted.**

**"No, no… I'm fine," Wills returned with a small smile. "Uh, so… things went good, then?"**

**"Oh, sure. I mean, Ms. Sinclair suddenly had to leave… I think she may have been coming down with something."**

**"Really?"**

**"Yeah. Maybe a stomach complaint, or something. I don't mean to sound mean, but I'm glad. I was having a nervous breakdown trying to cover for Buffybot's weirder utterances," Tara chuckled now, before running her hand distractedly through the suitcase. "Uh, Will? I think you've packed enough for us to be gone a month… we're only going to be there for the weekend."**

**"It's not that bad. A-and, I just wanted to make sure you had everything you want when we're there. I-I know that things are going to be tough down there for you."**

**"Not really… okay, that was a small lie," Tara sighed. "But, I'm not that girl who grew up afraid of her own shadow, anymore. If Donnie thinks he's going to bully me while I'm there, he's really wrong this time."**

**"Bully? Who's bullying? I was talking about the funeral."**

**"I'm fine, Will. Don't worry about it," Tara replied as she turned and left the room. She was going to have to warn Willow about Petite Crique - but not right now. She just didn't have the energy to get into it….**

* * *

**Standing about twenty five miles outside of town, up the side of the Nevadas, Razor used his mystical, telescopic vision to spy on Sunnydale. Not that even he could see much from this far away, but it was good enough to pick out the shape of the town, the power and phone lines running into it and the worrisome military base just outside of its limits.**

**"The human didn't mention a base," Razor said bitterly.**

**"Do we abort," his right hand man, Spar, frowned angrily at this snag.**

**There was a moment of silence before Razor finally growled back, "No. We'll just have to hit the base first - maybe we'll pick up some interesting toys while we're there…."**

**"Are you sure," Spar had lowered his voice. Razor didn't mind being questioned by his second, in fact, he liked that somebody 'kept him honest' and helped him think things through. But he also wouldn't tolerate any show of dissent in front of the others. "We usually avoid these sorts of situations and Vrlug The Pestilence made it clear when we were allowed to travel here that he didn't want the human's ire aroused against the Underworld. I'm pretty sure this is the sort of circumstance he meant."**

**Razor shrugged with a side glare, before turning his attention back to the base, where men and vehicles traveled around like children's toys from this distance. "We have the Hellmouth to boost our abilities. We have a missing Slayer. And, as long as we're careful to interrupt their means of communications, we'll have them all dead long before they can report our… different… nature. Think of the fame we'll gather if the Slayer's town is burned to the ground by us. Maybe we'll get lucky and the gate will open," he grinned at his right hand. "Who knows? We could start the downfall of humanity right here."**

**Spar liked the sound of that, however unlikely it was….**

* * *

**Riley picked up the satellite phone in northern Alaska. His immediate superior, Colonel Ellis was out with most of the troops of the Meta-black Operations Team taking out some Ice Goblins that had been causing a problem for Barrow.**

**On the opposite end of the line, someone from the Pentagon greeted him by name, despite his not having given it. The voice on the other end, measured, nearly emotionless and obviously used to giving orders and having them followed ordered the teams brought back in.**

**"I understand Ma'am, but Colonel Ellis' team is traveling dark - no communications. The I.G.'s have some equipment they stole and can monitor our transmissions."**

**"I see," the woman's voice never changed inflection. "Upon his arrival, you're all to report to Nome on the double. Leave any equipment you can't carry, we'll pick it up for you. You're going to Nevada… a small town there has… experienced trouble. Your kind of trouble. You're to investigate, track and destroy. The transport plane waiting for you will have a complete dossier waiting with the details we have. Good Luck, Lieutenant Colonel - have Ellis contact the usual channel when you've arrived in Nevada."**

**"Yes, Ma'am," Riley returned, but the voice on the other end was already replaced with a dead line.**

----------------

End Ch 22


	23. Down to Two

**Coming of the Scooby Army**

Ch 23- Down to Two….

**Friday morning was a bustle of activity for all of the Scooby Family. Well, except for Spike naturally, who was in his 'dead sleep' in the guest room at Xander's apartment.**

**The rest were at the train station with multiple bags of luggage piled around them. Dawn was nearly hopping in excitement, while Willow and Tara were more somber.**

**"Have Cordelia call me when she meets you," Xander said.**

**"Yes, yes! You've told me that four times, Xan! I'm not a moron," Dawn grinned. "And, I'm gonna be fine," she put her hand over the pendant she wore. It was designed by Tara with some extra power from Willow to keep her nature hidden.**

**"That's 'cause I know the second you see the horses, you're going to completely forget to call," Xander grinned back at her. "And, you're not the one who is going to have a ball of neurotic vampire pacing around her place waiting for news."**

**"I love you, Xan, but boy am I not gonna miss you this weekend."**

**"Well, that's a fine thing to say," he gave her his best impression of 'sad puppy eyes'. "And this about the guy who's going to have doors put on her house, too."**

**Dawn's reply to that was cut short by the sound of the train's whistle and her squeal of excitement.**

* * *

**Across the 'Pond', Giles sat glumly in his holding cell. It was a sparsely decorated room, stripped of anything that couldn't be nailed down or would allow him to trace any sigils or symbols. Except for the bars over the door, it was more like a monk's room and one of the more severely austere sects, too, than a prison cell. This didn't make him feel any better about it. The magicks over the room fit around him as snugly as a strait-jacket and it made the air feel more dense and close than it would have ordinarily.**

**"So… will you stay for my execution? Or do you need to rush home," he asked facetiously and bitterly.**

**"I don't think it's that bad, Rupert," Lavinia Mills told him. "They seem to be listening very carefully to the details of Glory's assault."**

**"And my subsequent actions. I am so sorry, Lavinia."**

**"About the women?" She made a pshaw sound with her mouth and a waving aside gesture with her hand. "You think you're the first mage who's magic went straight below his belt line?"**

**"You're trying to be supportive," he told her. "But I know I've hurt you. It was never my intention. And, there will no doubt be more details to come that you're not going to want to know." He reached out for her, but carefully not too far. The magical barrier between them packed quite a punch, as he found out when he'd gone to throttle Quentin for being a smug bastard. "Perhaps you should go on to Latvia. Perhaps it would be better for you to forget me and all of this mess."**

**"Stop it! I'm not leaving. Those judges are going to know that everything you might have done was to protect the world… the entire world, Rupert! It isn't your fault that you weren't prepared for the influence that dark magic would have over you. Nor is it your fault, or anyone else's," she stressed, "that the cleansing ritual in Sunnydale didn't take hold."**

**"I hope you're right," he spun from her and went over to his cot, where he sat heavily. "I really do. But, I'm afraid of what they're going to do. I… I must admit… I think I'm most afraid of… of losing…."**

**"… your power? The magical energy?"**

**He glanced at her and nodded before hanging his head in shame.**

**"Oh, Rupert. Again, you think you're the first mage to be seduced by the power and control magic offers. When will you understand you're just human? You did the best you could and now you're sick… but it isn't any better or worse than any other addiction. We'll get you through this. So will the Council. They're not going to execute you - they're going to take care of you."**

**"What if… what if I'm never the same? What if I'll never be reliable for the children, again?"**

**"That won't happen. I know it won't."**

* * *

**"You don't have to stand here for an hour, Xan," Tara said, after Dawn's train north pulled out.**

**"Like I've got better things to do?"**

**"I'm just saying."**

**"Yeah, Xan. We're two powerful witches in broad daylight," Willow added. "If you need to get back to the site?"**

**"We wrapped up yesterday," he shared. "I'm officially back on the public dole. Who knew that construction in Sunnydale actually had lulls?"**

**"Well, while your standing here, anyway," Tara grinned, "Let me remind you that Buffybot is sitting in the basement of the house."**

**"She should be alright on her own," Willow said. "I've installed a timer on her, so she'll know when to get up for patrol. I've included some pretty restrictive limits on her activities that I'll remove when we get back. It should allow her to engage any strays, while avoiding getting herself torn up until I can be here to fix her."**

**"And, Miss Kitty should be set," Tara mentioned. "Don't worry about her box - I just emptied it this morning. She has fresh food and water."**

**"I'll check on her anyway," Xan smiled back. "I'll be over there Sunday with a few guys from work to hang those doors. Any special instructions for Amy?"**

**"She should be set, too," Willow said. She sadly added, "Poor Amy. I feel bad that I haven't been able to reverse her stupid spell… she really should have turned that Fairy Tale Demon into a rat, instead."**

**"Well, we're doing what we can," Tara shrugged. "I mean, you know, Hecate isn't somebody to be called on lightly - especially if you don't make sure you can call on her to reverse your incantations. We have this really old crone-witch in the bayou… I'll look her up while we're there. If she's still alive, she may be able to give us a counter-spell."**

**"Don't worry about a thing, guys," Xander said. Growing solemn for a moment he leaned in and kissed Tara's cheek. "You just focus on your family right now. Things here will be fine. After all, it'll only be a few days and without the living tornado of Dawn what could really happen?"**

**"Groan, Xander!" Willow sighed in mock exasperation, "Haven't we learned by now that we never ask questions like that? Bad boy - no Spike kisses."**

**"Uh, yeah…," he said uncomfortably "… my bad."**

* * *

**Out in the vast desert surrounding Sunnydale, outside of its limits so that no one would detect them, Razor's men baked in the harsh, late summer sun. It seemed to have no appreciable effect on them, despite their utter lack of water and their consuming gallons of cheap whiskey.**

**"This is boring," Garrote complained.**

**"When do we roar in," Barbwire asked.**

**"Tonight. That's the way that the boss wants it," Spar half complained. He saw no reason to sneak in under cover of darkness… the humans relied on guns these days and the pellets would find little effect against their skin. For reasons mystic, only bladed weapons forged by a mortal would harm any of them. The modern human military had forsaken such tools a very long time ago.**

**Garrote looked westward over the heat-shimmering sands. "This is going to be so good…."**

* * *

**Fifteen feet underground, at the end of one of the warren of tunnels that snaked through Sunnydale, a tall creature sat at a makeshift bar. It was dressed in long black robes, covering it from head to toe. One hand was tucked within a long sleeve, while the other grasped a bottle of human beer. The face of the creature was mostly hidden within a deep cowl, aided by the weak lighting that Willy had managed to string around the cul-de-sac.**

**"It is not that aiding the Slayer brings me any sort of joy," it was complaining between huge swallows of beer. "However, in this case…."**

**"How sure you 'bout this," Willy wheedled. "I cause a stir - waste her time, she might decide trashing this place would be just as fun as crashing my old joint. And, there isn't a lot of room for me to go any lower."**

**"I have complete confidence in your ability to find a place deeper in the muck. But yes, I am sure. My visions are very rarely mistaken."**

**"Very rarely? Very rarely?!"**

**"No one is perfect. However, in this I am right. The Marauders are coming - and very, very soon. I fear the Hellmouth is about to become a rather uncomfortable place to live - even more so than it is under the Slayer's watch…."**

* * *

**"I want to leave," Tangina insisted.**

**"We don't know where to go," Keith insisted. "We haven't gotten a direction since your imaginary friend decided to clam up!"**

**"Stop being an ass," she screamed at him. "I didn't have to come this far, you know! Unlike some of us, I had a life!"**

**"Guys, stop," Donna Rumboldt stepped between her boyfriend and their psychic companion. "This isn't helping anything!"**

**"We're in trouble, here," Tangina insisted. "The last message I got was that we were in danger. And, this whole town has me on edge. This place is wrong. I know it!"**

**"But Keith's right," Donna said. "We don't know where to go…."**

**"Yes, we do. We go home," Tangina said snottily. "We forget about the obsession and we get the fuck out of here!"**

**"You wanna go, you go," Keith Campbell yelled. "But you go on your own dime! Don't expect me to let my parent's killers go free 'cause your intangible boyfriend decided somebody else was more worth hanging out with."**

**"Keith! Knock if off," Donna turned on him. "If Tangina says she senses something wrong here, we should listen to her."**

**"Thanks, Donna," Tangina said, "But 'listening' to me is useless if you won't follow my advice. Sam said we're in danger and now I can't get anything from him no matter how much I focus on the Board. I'm telling you we should get out of here… right now. We should already be on the road with Sunnydale in the rear view mirror."**

**Keith gave a disgusted snort and banged his fist on the small table in the motel room. He stomped the few steps to the window and angrily yanked at the drapes, and glared out over the sun-drenched parking lot.**

**"Okay, look," Donna said, having gotten used to playing peace maker the last week between her two bickering companions. "I have a compromise. One, Tan - give us two more days in town to find a lead. Who knows, maybe the vampires ran out of town? Give us a chance to find out for sure. Two, Honey - we need to ask for help from those guys."**

**"What?! It's their fault we didn't kill them all in the first place!"**

**"I don't care! We're wasting time and money and getting nowhere fast. They obviously know all of the nooks and crannies in town - we ask for help. We check out where they tell us to look and then whether we find our vampires or not, or figure out which direction they've taken off in or admit the trail is dead - we follow Tangina's advice and we get out while we can. Agreed?"**

**Having a moment of hesitation, Tangina reluctantly nodded. Keith stood silent and gazing out of the window.**

**"Keith."**

**"I can't let them go. I can't."**

**"If they didn't stay in town, we're losing valuable time with them in the wild," Donna said softly. She came up behind him and laid a hand against his back. "We ask for help - we know for sure."**

**"Fine," Keith frowned. "Fine, but I don't care how cold the trail seems - I'm not giving up until every one of them and all of their 'new recruits' are dust…."**

* * *

**Later that evening, just after sundown, as Donna and Keith were knocking on Xander's apartment door and Tangina was pacing nervously in his hallway and waiting for him to answer, men and women in uniform began screaming and dying in horror outside of town….**

* * *

End Ch23


	24. Strike

**Coming of the Scooby Army**

Ch 24 - Strike

**Spike stirred shortly after the limn of the moon came up over the horizon. As he came into the living room, he stopped short in surprise at the three humans standing in Xander's apartment.**

**"An unpleasant surprise," he muttered. "And, how's Dawn," as he turned toward Xan.**

**"One - get something to eat and stop being an ass. Two - she's fine and squealey. Sit down, guys. I'll get some beers…."**

**"Just soda for me if you have it," the spooky girl calling herself Tangina said.**

**Xander Harris had been around magic long enough to get a sense when somebody was a caster and this chick with the odd eyes was it. Donna immediately sat, while Keith took a minute to glare at Spike as the vampire made his way to the refrigerator, before finally sitting.**

**As Spike grabbed out a blood bag and tossed it into the microwave, Keith stood again in alarm. Unnoticed by the two in the kitchen, he unsheathed a wooden stake from his belt and stood there pale and glaring.**

**"Keith? What are you doing," Donna asked in alarm with a harsh whisper, having not noticed what was happening in the kitchen.**

**"Blood! The dude has blood! He's a vampire!?"**

**Before anyone could react to his shocked indignation, Keith was running for the kitchen. Xander tried to tell him to hold on so they could explain, but the reaction to getting in the way was a fist that sent him crashing into the cabinets and to the floor.**

**Spike had spun with demon reflexes and blocked the swung arm and the lethal point of wood heading true, straight for his chest. Without thinking, a hand flew up - palm out - to hit the angered young visitor under the chin, but the chip intervened, hard, and instead he hit the floor with a pained yelled.**

**Keith lashed out with a foot, catching the vampire in the side of the head further throwing him off balance, "You tricking bastard!"**

**He raised the stake again and started on a down swing that would drive the weapon deep into the back of the vampire's neck, when he was knocked awkwardly off of his feet by Xander.**

**"Stop it, goddamnit!"**

**In the meantime, Tangina stood with her eyes wide as Donna rushed into the relatively tiny kitchen, just adding to the mass of confusion and limbs and bodies tumbling over each other. Spike was now on his hands and knees, drops of blood coming from his nose to splash on the tiled floor. He was driven head first into the linoleum as two male human bodies landed heavily on him.**

**Xander was grabbing at Keith's wrists, while he was struggling to shake off the fellow human.**

**"Donna - a knife! The guy's a thrall!"**

**"Hey, I resent that! I haven't been in a thrall since Dracula!"**

**"Keith, stop! What's going on? What's a vampire doing here," Donna tried to grasp what had happened in the last two minutes to cause such sudden chaos.**

**As she grabbed at Xander, further complicating matters, Tangina had pulled out a small dagger that she wasn't fully confident in. She felt frozen to the floor, unable to move even though her brain was telling her to run.**

**Spike, having recovered by now with a choice swear word or two, grabbed at Keith's ankles bringing the young man down, with a mild zap by the chip. Clearly ankle grabbing wasn't considered deadly violence, but it wasn't considered a non-threatening move either. Spike swore again.**

**Xander in the meantime was overleveraged shoving against Keith's aggressive moves and when he went down, Xan started stumbling forward. Instinctively, he reached out for a hand hold and found himself grabbing a hold of one of Donna's breasts… she tried to recoil with a scream, but he was still flailing on his way to the floor and grabbed again at her, snatching her arm. Both went down in a tumble of limbs on top of Keith and Spike each of whom were trying to simultaneously regain their feet and attack/defend against the other.**

**By this time, Tangina finally got her feet to move, but instead of heading for the front door as her brain insisted, she rushed into the kitchen next. Snatching a head full of Xan's hair, she yanked his head back as far as it would go and placed her small dagger to his throat.**

**"Freeze, or the guy gets it," she yelled into the general din of commotion. Not that she would actually use a knife on a person; she was shaking so hard she was sure that she was about to faint, but she had to protect Keith and Donna from the vampire's minion in the room.**

**It had the immediate effect she wanted. While the vampire had instantly shifted into its real face, and snarled at her, it stopped scuffling.**

**"I mean it," she added in a panicky tone.**

**"I'll break your face," Spike growled out, glaring at Xander's position. He was formulating on whether he could tackle the bint before she could carry out her threat. It was a close call with his awkward position, half fallen on his butt, against the oven.**

**Keith in the meantime scrambled to grab his dropped stake, which was laying half under Donna's thigh. "Move," he yelled at her.**

**She did. But she shifted more on top of the stake on the floor, causing him to give her a frustrated shove. She responded with a shockingly loud and sharp slap to his face, bringing him to an immediate halt, "Stop! Everyone just calm down a second, I need to fucking think!"**

**"He's a vampire! What the hell is there to think about," Keith pointed out, as he began to claw at the stake protruding from underneath her leg.**

**"He saved us! Why would he do that? Think a minute," Donna insisted.**

**"Not to be rude," Xander interrupted, straining to look behind him. "But you're giving me a bad kink in my neck," he threw over his shoulder at Tangina.**

**"Oh, sorry!" She released her hold, but still kept the dagger point against the side of this throat.**

**With a strained grin he added, "And 'Freeze, or the guy gets it?' Really?"**

**"Well, it's my first hostage taking."**

**For several heartbeats, everyone looked at each other speechless and unmoving. Finally, Spike said, "Well somebody either continue attacking or let's break apart and go to neutral corners for chrissakes."**

**"I'm voting for separating so we can explain, myself," Xander suggested.**

* * *

**On the Sunnydale Army base, which was actually just outside of the town's limits, things were in a state of chaos. The computers were down, communications were disrupted and walkie talkies were producing only a static-filled whine. There was the sound of gunfire coming from all directions from outside and Colonel Randall Jacobs took a deep breath to calm his nerves as he reached into his desk for his service issue officer's pistol. He didn't know what the hell was going on - the shaking and white as a sheet enlisted man before him wasn't making much sense. It seemed like some psycho, or multiple psychos were shooting up the base and targeting his men and women. The soldier was repeating "they're not human" and although Jacobs remembered all too well his briefings during the 314 Lab Recovery mission, he wanted to believe that they were under attack by some mortal humans. If not, they were in some real shit, and they'd never been attacked like this by the so-called demons, before. Why now?**

**Giving the young man, all of eighteen if he was a day, a shove toward the office door as he barreled out behind him, he started barking orders. He wasn't a tactical sort of guy and this would be the first time that he'd had to do more than mock-battle. In the back of his mind, he was surprised and proud at how calm he felt. The training he'd received over his military career was coming to the fore and he felt confident, smart and in control of the situation.**

**Across the base, men were retreating as they pumped automatic weapons fire into the enemies tearing through them, and watching them not being stopped.**

**"Angle toward Command and Control," a military police sergeant yelled. "We'll make our stand there - get to Jacob's building…!"**

**His strong and commanding voice was cut in mid-order by a high pitched scream as Barbwire's claws dug deeply into the man's back. With a self-satisfied grin, the demon snapped the spine and then looked around with sheer delighted laughter for his next target.**

* * *

**In the Summers' basement, the Buffybot 'awoke' with the suddenness of an electronic device. She scanned her surrounding both visually and aurally. When she didn't see nor hear anyone, and while she headed for the basement door, she pulled up her database marked Scooby Scheduling - there she found that she mustn't expect to see Sister Dawn, Best Friend Willow or Friend Tara because all of them were color coded as 'Out of Town'.**

**With her large grin, she passed Ms. Kitty Fantastico at her water dish in the kitchen, "I'm heading out Kitty! The evils of the night will fall to Buffy - The Vampire Slayer," she solemnly swore with a huge, incongruous for her tone, grin on her face.**

**While 'Buffy' headed out on patrol, Jonathon was banging around under his desk. His internet connection had just crapped out a minute ago while he was in a secure database. If he didn't get back into it to wipe out his presence, there was going to be even more trouble for him than he was already in. And all for nothing, too. There had been no area police reports entered, at least not digitally yet, on Warren Mears or Andrew Wells.**

**Right now, he was stuck in Pasadena's system and although he knew a lot about computers, he was pretty sure their Data Center guys would pick up the intrusion on a security sweep. As he checked his cables and modem and found nothing wrong, the lights began to flicker in his bedroom….**

**_Oh, oh, _Jonathon thought. He'd lived in Sunnydale too long and seen too much for him to not assume that problems wouldn't eventually boil down to a supernatural cause. Just as he wondered if he should call Xander Harris and just ask if there was something he could help with or not, the lights went out for good….**

**Buffybot meanwhile, was strolling down her residential street. Her first stop was to be the site of the Sunnydale ruins. Willow's last update to the Sunnydale Topography Map file indicated that the old school was removed, but no one could remove a Hellmouth. Her first sweep would be for stragglers hanging around the portal before they had a chance to establish a base camp.**

**Above her the street lamps flickered briefly before going out altogether. "Oh, good! It will be far easier to do my job, now," she spoke far too loudly for somebody walking down the street alone. A split second later, in a voice every bit as loud, she added, "Oh no! The vampires and evil demons will have their jobs made easier!"**

**Caught in the logic loop, her facial expression spastically changed from grinning wildly to disappointed frown every five seconds. If she met anyone else, they were surely going to think she was suffering some form of fit.**

**Buffybot determined that she needed to resolve this dispute before she continued with her patrolling. She did an about face on the sidewalk and changed course. She knew that Spike(!)- or Xander could tell her whether to be happy or frowny over the lights being out.**

* * *

**"This place is even more fucked up than I thought," Keith bitterly complained.**

**"So, like he actually … lives with you and everything!?" Tangina had found it hard to keep her mouth from hanging open agape since Xander had explained the bare minimums of Spike's situation.**

**"This is sick! Kill him, man. He's helpless - don't let him have the chance to be unhelpless," Keith insisted.**

**"I get the chip thing, mostly," Donna opined, "But that doesn't mean he's really trustworthy, right? I mean, he's still a vampire through and through?"**

**"Yeah. He's a vampire. He's also a hero who helped save the world at least twice now." **(1)

**"I don't believe it! Sounds like horseshit of the naïve," Keith nearly yelled. "He's a thing! That is all he'll ever be."**

**"Should I just leave," Spike finally spoke up with clear annoyance, "All of this 'he' as if I ain't standing right here in the damned room."**

**"Sorry, Spike," Xan clapped him on the arm.**

**"Don't move anywhere," Keith took a step in a threatening manner. "You ain't leaving here."**

**Spike smirked and before Xander could intervene threw out a sarcastic, "Cause Xena, Sword Princess is going to get in the way?"**

**"This could be going better," Xander muttered under his breath, but loud enough for everyone to hear.**

**"We're just in shock," Donna said, apologetically. She realized that she did that a lot whenever she was with Keith.**

**"I've just never seen this. We've never seen this… situation… before," Tangina added. "I mean, everything with fangs we've come across has been a kill or be killed situation… not that I know firsthand. I mean, I mostly just stayed tucked in the hotel room," she shrugged.**

**"No, you're completely right," Keith glared at the room in general and Xander and Spike in particular. He grabbed up the bottle of beer that Xander had produced once their sparring was halted by this agreement to talk and swallowed half of it in one go. "This… creature… may pretend to have human friends, or whatever, but you can bet he's planning on breaking out his copy of 'To Serve Man'. You're an idiot and it's going to get you killed," he added to his host.**

**Xander had had about all he was going to take of Keith's belligerent attitude and was about to tell him in the clearest possible terms. It was obvious the 'vampire hunter' wasn't going to listen to anything they had to say. He didn't want to think of Spike being in a battle for his life out there and have to worry about somebody back stabbing him, when the chip prevented him from seriously defending himself. It was time to order these people out of town and to kick their collective asses if they wouldn't leave… enough was enough.**

**Before he could make the ultimatum, the lights in the room flickered oddly and then went out completely. Xander automatically side-stepped in front of Spike, putting himself between the vampire and Keith, in case the guy (who was still clutching his stake way too menacingly) tried to take advantage of the sudden darkness.**

**"I got it," Spike moved off. The apartment was surprisingly dark without the streetlamps in front of his veranda, but of course, the vampire wasn't inconvenienced in the slightest. Xander sighed to himself as he thought about Hyena - he'd see pretty well right now himself, if he hadn't had to get rid of her to protect everybody else….**

**Just as Spike struck up a match and started to fill the room with candlelight, an explosive sound rocked the night outside. It came from the northwest of town and the clear glow of fire split the darkness for a moment. Car alarms sounded off in the distance and everyone in the apartment ran for the veranda to take a look….**

* * *

**On the army base, the armory attendants lay in ripped and torn uniforms. A woman soldier from Sunnydale, Anna Behest, Private First Class, stood her ground as four of the ugliest things she'd see since Sunnydale High graduation grinned at her. She briefly flicked her glance over the six others, but none of them moved from their positions in thick pools of blood on the floor. She sure wished she had some flaming arrows and a bow right then.**

**In her hands, she held tightly to a fire fighting axe. She saw that the guns everyone was using wasn't having much of an effect against their attackers and that had led to her abandoning her own for her current weapon instead.**

**When she was helping that weird girl, Buffy, and her semi-cute in a Sunnydale-loser-club way Xander to save their lives from Mayor McGiantReptile, the Buffy girl claimed that guns wouldn't help. There had been a lot of her students to bring it up, but everyone had known that ever since Buffy had arrived in town, the mortality rate of the student body had dropped. The adults may have remained deliberately clueless, but the students knew that if Buffy claimed something was true or false in monster fighting, then she was the one to listen to.**

**Anna made some feints with the axe, backing over the fallen shelves of ammo and reams of paper and survival gear and other hodge-podge equipment that had been strewn around the floor during her and the others' fight for survival. Her heart ached for her fellow soldiers - not that she could take time to search for vitals at the moment to make sure they were actually dead. But Archer had lost his head from his shoulders and McManus had a hole punched clear through him - they were goners. Like she was gonna be if she didn't keep her mind focused on what she was doing.**

**_I can't believe I got assigned back to Sunnydale! The whole point of joining the fucking Army was to get the hell out of this twisted 'burg, _she railed. _But you know what, that's fine. I ain't fucking dying here, anyway!_**

**Behind the four demons that were stalking as close as they could to her without coming into range of her ready axe (which she noted was interesting - they had shown no such hesitation about running through a barrage of gunfire - so she had confidence she made the right choice) were two more of the burly, noseless things. They were taunting her in ways that brutal men of war had taunted women for ages, but if they thought that their promises of sexual violence were going to turn her into a helpless daisy, they were ignorant of modern women. She wondered if they were trying to piss her off so that she'd swing wildly at one of them and then leave her flank wide open - well, she was a bit smarter than that.**

**Private Behest finally felt the door she'd been stumbling toward at her back. It swung open as she bumped into it, and she gave a silent thank you to the universe. She had been thinking ahead, but hadn't come to any conclusions about how exactly she'd work the security keypad without being swarmed.**

**Once inside, one of the creatures gave a loud 'fuck this' and charged her, receiving her axe planted squarely in its forehead. She quickly used the protruding handle to shove him toward his fellows before his legs buckled. Breathing heavily in a mixture of relief and terror in equal parts she engaged the security locks, hearing the heavy bank-vault like door engage.**

**She looked around the heavy weapons armory and realized there was no where left to go.**

**_Now, what, _she stared at the pounding coming from the other side of the vault door.**

* * *

End Ch 24

(1) From Xander's viewpoint, he is speaking of 'Doomed' in S4 and the Glory-saga of _spanderverse_. I doubt highly that Buffy bothered to go into details about how Spike did or didn't help stop Angelus in Becoming.


	25. Last Stands

**Coming of the Scooby Army**

Ch 25 - Last Stands

**Within the fenced and secured Sunnydale Army Base, the death count finally began to decrease. Of course, that was mostly because there were dramatically less people to kill. So far a full half of the humans in the fight for their lives had lost. One demon was dead when a semi-experienced Sunnydale graduate had thrown her gun away for a fire axe and planted it into one of Razor's men's heads.**

**Now, the Private, Anna Behest, had found a bit of respite by locking herself in a secured, heavy weaponry vault. She was surrounded by various caliber of artillery shell, a small consignment of land mines and another small consignment of rocket propelled grenades. She looked around at the ordinance with her and began thinking about how she was going to be able to use it….**

**Battles like Anna's were occurring throughout the military installation. Men and women found themselves cut off from their fellows as all communications from walkie-talkies to cell phones were disrupted. Many, many fell while wildly and desperately firing their pistols and semi-automatic assault rifles to no noticeable effect.**

**Others, isolated and tackled to the ground - both men and women - screamed in horrendous torture as their orifices bloodily served to satiate the sexual impulses of their attackers. Their barbed penises tore through flesh, causing massive internal damage to those unfortunate enough to receive such attention.**

**Still others found better, if temporary, luck grabbing knives or letter openers or other pointed or edged metal objects. Several of Razor's gang had puncture and slash marks from such random attacks, but they laughed off these injuries and continued their plundering and murdering.**

**In Command and Control, ten of the demon gang, including Razor and his most trusted minion, Spar were sweeping through the one story floor, killing all that they encountered.**

**In the nerve center of the base, down a long elevator ride, survivors huddled. Four men were stationed just in front of the elevator with armor piercing rifles pointed at the closed doors. Jacobs paced angrily and nervously from one side of the small room to the other, glaring at the computer technicians trying to get something… anything… out of their dead consoles. It was like the entire base had been swallowed up in an electro-magnetic pulse - power, computers, phones - all of it was out. Even the underground control room, designed specifically to continue operating in the event of a near direct nuclear strike was operating on emergency battery power only. He briefly wished that Riley and his band of weirdo-fighters was here, but he had no idea where the M-bots were hanging out, nor any way to contact Washington to get them there.**

* * *

**Riley Finn surveyed the looks on the faces of a couple of men approaching him and his superior, Colonel Ellis. It didn't look like they had good news.**

**Which is why it didn't come as a surprise when they reported they'd found no survivors in the wasteland that Los Rocas Pacificas, Nevada had become. So far they'd found ninety four dead, with enough parts to conclude three more. The latest numbers they had for the village was a population of one hundred-twenty four and Riley wanted to believe that a few of them managed to get out. They had military hardware in the sky circling the surrounding desert looking for survivors, but so far… nothing.**

**"Have you seen anything like this before," Ellis asked him. He'd been completely briefed on Finn's background, of course, when Miller had recommended his acceptance into the unit. He often used Riley's experience in the odd settlement of Sunnydale to gain insights into the foes they faced.**

**"No. But then, Sunnydale had a dedicated team to keep this very type of thing from happening."**

**"Too bad we don't have a… what's she called? Destroyer?"**

**"Slayer. The Slayer."**

**"Right. Too bad we don't have a few of those here," Ellis said, before directing the two reporting men to join up with the squad a few blocks over going from house to house. "You want to go talk to Corporal Bone-tosser… we need a lead on where our quarry has gone, and he gives me the creeps."**

**Corporal Bone-tosser was actually Corporal Anton Seville, a short and thin-as-a-read, mocha skinned geek of the highest order, who none-the-less was a talented soldier. He had multiple roles in the unit, as they all did, really. He acted as back-up medic, translator of Aramaic symbols, part time laptop fixer and scout. But he also happened to have come from a long line of seers who got their start generations back in voodoo on the island nation of Haiti before they'd made their way two generations ago to the U.S.**

**Corporal Seville had inherited a gift for reading the bones of chickens or any fowl when combined with meditative chants. It was a skill that his grandmother insisted he learned, even though he was always embarrassed by the 'primitive-ness' of it. But when he'd been inducted into the Meta-black Ops Teams, he'd quickly realized that they could use his bizarre skill and had 'come out' to Ellis and Miller about it.**

**There'd been skepticism of course, as expected. But it hadn't taken but a few encounters with some of the exotic energy wielding demons before Ellis became a lot more interested in his claims. Now, he was the go to guy when they'd lost a trail.**

**That didn't make it any less obvious that Colonel Ellis was still deeply uncomfortable with him, though….**

**As Riley came up to the bespectacled young man sitting cross-legged on the ground, he glanced up. His dried old collection of bones were laid out in a circle that had been carved into the dirt. Symbols surrounding the circle that Riley had seen plenty of times in situations matching this, but he still didn't know what they meant. He could see for himself that all of the bones were laid out in parallel to one another on an east-west axis. The were all crowded against one another on the westward side of the circle, as well.**

**Anton confirmed what Riley already expected.**

**"West, Sir. We're headed west toward the mountains."**

**Finn turned and gazed into the darkness in the direction of the Pacific Ocean. A cold chill ran down his spine, as well as a feeling of anticipation. He knew in his gut where this was leading.**

**"Sunnydale," he whispered to himself. _Buffy._**

* * *

**Barbwire punched the concrete wall in frustration. His raiders found themselves stymied by the woman hiding in the secured room beyond. She'd managed to kill Crusher with an axe blow when the idiot rushed her, and that was something he couldn't let go, otherwise they would have just left her alone and moved on.**

**They'd already tried to break through the plaster and concrete walls to bypass the thick door, but were angered and disappointed to find more thick steel walls blocking their entrance to the room beyond. The woman's refuge had been built like a safe room and with their vulnerabilities to steel, they found themselves unable to deliver any shredding blows to the walls or the door that blocked their way.**

**In a pique of fury, Rasper nearly tore the electronic lock off of the door, before Barbwire intervened. He had a plan….**

**Sending Bonespike to fetch The Mystic, they all cooled their heels waiting. The bitch was going to find herself 'entertaining' them for quite a while, much to her regret for making them waste all of this time.**

**When The Mystic returned with Bonespike, Barbwire pushed him in front of the door.**

**"Open it," he commanded.**

**After several seconds of studying the barrier in front of them, he grinned. The Mystic was single handedly responsible for their ability to attack and destroy without the rest of the world learning about it until it was far too late, you see.**

**It was he who mystically disrupted electronics, radio waves, even mystical communication with his powerful natural abilities. He was of the same race as the rest of the Annaldi - with their tannish-pink skin, nose-missing faces, and muscular builds. But, he was also, like Razor, a mutant. Where Razor's ability involved vision, The Mystic's involved the disruption of the electromagnetic spectrum.**

**For this reason, he very often missed out on a lot of the fun. Razor, and the others as well, were always sure to keep him to the rear of the major action, forcing him to be happy with their 'sloppy seconds'. On the one hand, it gave him power to be so valued and needed but on the other, it also made him somewhat of a prisoner. He'd learned to live with it, if not to be happy about it.**

**Now he stared hard at the electronic keypad keeping them from whatever Barbwire was after beyond the door. He didn't bother asking and no one had mentioned the purpose for getting it opened. It really didn't matter - it wasn't like he was going to refuse. If he was lucky there'd be a room full of tender children waiting, unarmed, so the others wouldn't immediately push him behind them in a ridiculous and irritating desire to 'protect' him.**

**His arms were outstretched, the palms of each hand facing up in the direction of the ceiling above. From his palms, two large pits - like stigmata wounds - emitted mystical blue flame. The color of the flames were perfectly matched in hue by the eldritch energy in his eyes.**

**In front of the demons, the pad began to squeak and ping….**

* * *

**In the weapons vault, Anna Behest watched with growing horror as the keypad display on the inner side of the door began to randomly flash numbers. As the first, second, and third numbers of the code to get in froze on the display, she realized that she was fucked, in those exact words.**

**With a dawning sadness, but not nearly as much fear as she thought there would be, she looked over the heavy ordinance surrounding her. There were no launchers with the shells that needed them, of course - that would have made too much sense for the Army. Instead, they sat uselessly unless heaving them in the general direction of her assailants was going to be of any help.**

**Spying another fire axe behind the glass case in the room, she realized what she had to do. Anna thought of her mother and father in Sunnydale. She thought of her friends - some of them she hadn't spoken to in a year. And, she thought about Buffy Summers and Xander Harris and the time when she was part of the bravest class of students who had ever overcome overwhelming odds. With no help but each other, they had saved the whole town. And, she'd been right there - doing her part.**

**It was the finest moment she'd ever had… the moment when she was the best that she could be… until now.**

**Private Behest silently wished everyone she loved good luck and as the last digit of the lock was entered and the heavy vault door began to swing open, she swung her heavy axe into the nearest explosive shell….**

* * *

**In Xander Harris' apartment, the arguments about how safe Spike was were interrupted by a massive explosive noise rattling the windows. The outside was filled briefly with raging yellow and red light which quickly died down to a distant flickering.**

**William Schellden a.k.a, Spike, Xander Harris, Keith Campbell, Donna Rumboldt and Melanie Darns a.k.a. Tangina stood watching the glowing and obviously raging fire off in the northwest. Out on the streets, people left their homes and apartments to converse with one another over what was going on.**

**With the streetlamps completely out, the glow was even more pronounced and minutes later in rapid succession, another series of explosives rocked the town.**

**"Jesus," Xander whispered.**

**"The Army base," Spike said forcefully. "The only place nearby that would have the hardware to create that big a noise."**

**"My God," Tangina gasped. "This is what Sam tried to warn me about!"**

**"Sam," Xander questioned, but Keith interrupted before he could find out who Sam was, and where, since he wasn't with the rest of them in the apartment.**

**"W-what do we do? This can't be vampires? I mean, they wouldn't attack a base!"**

**"We don't know it's an attack at all," Tangina pointed out. "It could be an accident."**

**"Sunnydale doesn't have 'just accidents'," Spike returned. Before anyone could respond any further he leaped over the side of the veranda, landing on his feet among startled spectators.**

**"Spike! What?!" Xander leaned out over the veranda, hand outstretched as if to hold the vampire back.**

**"Muster the troops - I'm checking it out - get 'Buffy'!"**

**He dashed off at a very rapid speed toward the blazing Army base on the outskirts of town.**

**"Shit. This is going to be bad," Xander muttered to his new companions….**

* * *

End Story

_**Spanderverse Series**_:

**BTVS seasons 1-4**.

_Spanderverse_: After 314

_Spanderverse_: Spike

_Spanderverse_: Dracula

_Spanderverse_: Burial

**BTVS: Real Me**

_Spanderverse_: Confusion of Three

Preludes

Tensions

Old Friends

Hospital Visits

The Risks of Glory

Hunting Our Needs

The Family We Choose

Falling Apart

Sunnydale Antics

Feints and Counter-Feints

Pathways

BTVS: The Body

Coming Together

Songs of Pain and Comfort

Battling with a God

Glory's Moment

_Spanderverse_: Points of View One

_Spanderverse_: Points of View Two

_Spanderverse_: Points of View Three

_Spanderverse_: Points of View Four

Rebuilding

Dawn

The Cost of Giles


End file.
